Changing Direction
by kayladie
Summary: What would have happened if Lex Luthor had walked away from his father before he was exiled to Smallville?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Changing Direction

**Author:** kayladie

**Rating:** R

**Pairing:** Clark/Lex

**Summary:** What would Lex Luthor's life have been like if he'd walked away from his father before he was exiled to Smallville?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters and I make no money from this work.

**Warning:** Very AU! And slash!

* * *

Lex Luthor decided epiphanies could be very odd things. For some reason he'd always thought they came in blinding flashes, presenting themselves in grand fashion with all the accompanying fireworks. But his first epiphany of that afternoon had crept up on him slowly, like a lazy sunrise, there in his head before he quite realized what he was thinking.

He was standing in front of the massive mahogany desk in his father's study, and Lionel was deep into a lecture on all the many different ways Lex had disappointed him, concentrating mainly on the mess he'd had to get his son out of last night. Lex wasn't quite sure what the big deal was. It had only been a party, after all. And yes, maybe it had gotten a little wild, and maybe he had ended up having sex with three different girls and one boy at the same time, but honestly, Lex thought the one he'd had in London right before getting kicked out of Harbridge Academy had been worse.

Perhaps it was the boy that had gotten Lionel worked up into such a state. Lex had assumed that his father knew he sometimes indulged in both sexes, but maybe he hadn't. Or maybe Lex had just never been so blatant about it before. Of course, there _had_ been that blinding flash that had ended up being a camera; Lex imagined that had cost Lionel a pretty penny to bury, as it hadn't appeared in any of the tabloids this morning. Maybe that was why he was so mad. It wasn't that his father cared about what Lex himself did, it was the time and money he had to spend to _fix_ what Lex did.

_Money is the only thing he's ever going to care about_, Lex thought to himself, and then had to stop his mouth from gaping open, as the inherent truth in that thought wriggled its way into his consciousness. He somehow managed to force his expression to keep the slightly annoyed, slightly bored look that it always held during one of these sessions, as his brain followed the thought: _I only do these things to get his attention, because that's all that ever _will_ get his attention. He doesn't give a damn what I do, so long as my actions don't reflect badly on him._

Somehow, way back in the deepest recesses of his mind, he had known this all along, but he'd never allowed the thought to filter through to the front before. On the heels of this perception altering shift, came the next traitorous realization:

_I don't have to put up with this. _

Now, that was a thought that had crossed his mind a time or two in the past, but this was the first time that it was quietly honest instead of petulantly adolescent. Because he didn't really. He didn't have to stand here and listen to a harangue of all his many faults, made only worse by the irritation of dealing with coming down from the high of last night's drugs.

Lionel didn't love him, and no matter what Lex did or didn't do, that was never going to change. Lex had always considered himself a rather intelligent person, and the final epiphany of the day was that if he wanted that claim to continue to be the truth, then he'd be better off if he simply removed himself from his father's presence. What was the saying? 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.'

At first, the thought was almost too radical to give much credence to. Leave his father's presence? And do what, go sulk up in his room? He found that he was having a difficult time keeping these revelations from showing on his face, not that he thought Lionel would notice even if he suddenly starting sticking his tongue out at him. The old man was firmly in lecture mode now, and Lex knew that once he got started, he might not stop for hours. So Lex let his face maintain the bored listening pose, while his brain began clicking at a million miles an hour.

_Reasons that I stay and put up with my father's shit:_

_Family loyalty and love and all that garbage. Okay, but he doesn't love me, never will, so why should I bother?_

_Dad has a lot of money, and I like money, because it gets me what I want, but what do I want, really? The drugs? Eh, mainly to piss him off, so I don't need those. The girls? Hmm, I really prefer the boys anyway, and most of them don't expect all the frills and baubles that girls do, so I don't need that either._

_A position some day in LuthorCorp. What, so I can put up with this shit the rest of my fucking life? I don't think so._

He tried hard to think about the last time he'd been truly happy, or at least the last time since he'd been content, because he didn't think he'd been happy since his mother had died. Setting aside all the partying, drinking, and clubbing, there wasn't much left to consider. Then he remembered something that his biochemistry professor had said to him when Lex had turned in his final project – one of the few things he actually _had_ completed in his time at Princeton – last semester.

"_I didn't know what to expect from you on this, Mr. Luthor. But I have to say you've pleasantly surprised me. Have you considered a career in the sciences, because I think you've got great potential." _

The man had sounded more than a little shocked_. _

Lex had then pissed his professor off greatly by laughing in his face at that notion, because obviously Lionel would never allow _that_. But inside, a little thrill had fluttered through his heart, because no one had ever told him that he had potential before.

The longer he allowed the idea to swim in his head, the more credible it became. He didn't want to become his father's lackey, didn't want to take his place beside him in the family business. The only reason he'd been going through the motions was because he sought his father's approval, and clearly, that was never going to be given.

_I don't have to put up with this._

Such a simple notion, and yet it had changed his life completely from that moment onward.

* * *

Eleven years later, at thirty-one, Lex still liked to recall the apoplectic look on Lionel's face when he had turned and walked out the door of the study and then continued his steady gait right out of the house and out of being a Luthor. Oh, he still used the name – he figured it was his own as much as it was his father's – but he definitely was no longer one of 'those' Luthors.

Of course, Lionel hadn't realized right away exactly how far Lex was going to go away from him, but Lex knew that wouldn't last, so he'd moved as quickly as he could. When he'd left his father's study that day, he'd gone straight to the bank and withdrawn everything that was in the personal account Lionel had set up for him. He still had five months to go before he turned twenty-one and would be able to lay claim to the money that his mother had left him - money which his father was unable to touch - so he knew he'd need something to live on for a while.

It was a pittance compared to the Luthor billions, certainly, but Lex had been able to use it for what he needed while waiting on his mother's money: an apartment, since he knew he'd be thrown out of the penthouse; a mid-sized understated sedan, since Lionel owned all the cars Lex drove, and really, that had been the hardest part of this because Lex loved his fancy sports cars; and the bare essentials for stocking his new apartment. He had been unable to resist going back to his dorm at Princeton and getting all his clothes, as there was only so much he was willing to sacrifice to his new goal, and dressing well was not one of those things.

Then he'd formally withdrawn from Princeton and hunkered down in his apartment in Metropolis and waited for the explosion. He wasn't sure whether to be glad or hurt that it had taken Lionel a full week to notice what he'd done. He'd shown up on Lex's doorstep, curling his lip in disdain at the mediocrity of the place his progeny had chosen to live, and ordered his son back to Princeton.

Lex thought Lionel had actually been surprised when he refused to go. His father played his trump card then, the thing that he'd always held over Lex's head.

"_I'll cut you off, Son. You won't get a penny of my money or work for any decent company in this city ever again."_

_Lex couldn't hold back the smile as he'd silently said good-bye to his old life._

"_Go ahead, Dad. Do it."_

_Lionel's entire face had turned an interesting shade of red. "You think that I won't?"_

"_No, I know you will. I just don't care anymore."_

_The elder Luthor had blustered on for another several minutes before he seemed to realize that Lex was completely serious. With a dark scowl, he turned to leave the apartment. _

"_Oh, by the way, Dad…" Lex said, and Lionel paused for just a moment. "Give Lucas my regards, won't you?"_

_Startled, Lionel spun around and stared in shock at Lex. "How did you-"_

"_I'm not nearly as clueless as you like to think I am. Have a nice life."_

And then he'd shut the door in his father's face.

Lex still enjoyed remembering the feeling of delight that had brought. It hadn't been easy, of course. For the first couple of years, his father still occasionally called and lectured and made snide comments about Lex's 'failure', but Lex found that he was able to let it roll off his back. It was the most amazing feeling of freedom he'd ever encountered, far better than any high he'd ever gotten by artificial means.

Once his mother's money came in, he quietly enrolled in Metropolis University, starting completely over as a freshman and majoring in his favorite subject at Princeton…biochemistry. It had taken all of his persuasive skills to talk the dean of MetU into allowing him into their program. Lionel had tried to bring his own pressure to bear, but Dean Collins was disdainful of the Luthors anyway – which both helped Lex and hurt him at the same time – and wasn't about to knuckle under to threats.

Finally, after their third meeting in which Lex had passionately plead his case, Collins had decided to take a chance on him. Lex had shown his gratitude by never once getting into any trouble in the four years he was there and by graduating summa cum laude, with the highest GPA of anyone in his class at MetU.

His years at MetU had been mostly peaceful, with a few interruptions by Lionel and a few by the Metropolis press, who were rabid with curiosity over the fallout in the Luthor family. They'd followed him around fairly often that first year, but when he failed to do anything remotely scandalous, the interest in him had gradually died down. By his senior year, articles in the _Daily Planet_ and the _Inquisitor_ about Lionel Luthor never even mentioned the son that had walked away anymore.

Perhaps that was because Lex's half-brother Lucas seemed determined to follow in his older brother's footsteps with regard to the drinking and the partying. Pretty soon, there was a blurb in the papers nearly every week detailing some excess of Lucas Luthor. Lex barely even read them, but when he happened to catch a picture or two, he merely smiled sadly and silently wished the brother he'd never even met well.

Lex had lived a very quiet, mundane existence in his years at MetU, and in fact, it wasn't until halfway through his sophomore year that he'd made his first friend. Lex liked to think of David Holloway as his first friend because he was the only person Lex had met up until that point that had been interested in him as a person, and not what his last name implied.

Naturally, he'd been wary at first - his past experiences with sycophants and hangers-on still fresh in his mind - when David had asked if Lex would tutor him in his biology class. David had approached him, which only made Lex even more cautious, and at first he'd politely refused. David had been persistent, gently winning him over with jokes about how he was doomed to fail without Lex's help.

Lex had thought David might be coming on to him, until he learned that David wasn't gay; he wasn't even bi. He had a serious girlfriend that he was working up the nerve to propose to, in fact. Eventually, Lex had discovered that David was a basketball player, and had gotten into MetU on an athletic scholarship. He knew perfectly well, though, that there was no chance of him going professional as he wasn't quite good enough for that, and so he was determined not to waste the opportunity for a good education and a degree.

It had taken a while for it to sink in, but Lex had realized that David was just genuinely a nice person. He was averagely attractive, moderately smart, came from a solid middle-class family in Ohio, and was hopelessly lost when it came to the sciences. And after knowing him for less than six months, Lex would have walked through fire for the man.

David introduced him to his friends on the basketball team, which led to Lex tutoring some of them as well. He invited Lex over to his dorm to hang out with him and his girlfriend, Lindsay, sometimes. Christmas break of their junior year, he'd convinced Lex to come with him to his parents' house in Ohio to stay for the holidays, because he knew that Lex would otherwise spend it alone.

While they were all there, David finally proposed to Lindsay on Christmas day, and Lex had never felt more part of a family than he did when they'd allowed him to share in the celebration with them. When David and Lindsay had gotten married a month after graduation, Lex was his best man, and was more proud to have been given that honor than he was of any accolade he'd ever gotten while living under his father's roof.

The moment that he knew David was a true friend came just a few weeks after graduation, not too long after the Holloways returned from their honeymoon, a trip to Paris which had been Lex's wedding gift to them. David had called Lex up to tell him about the job offer he'd just received…from LuthorCorp.

David had graduated with a degree in Financial Business Management and had been sending out resumes to all the banking and securities firms in Metropolis. He'd had a few promising interviews when a call came from LuthorCorp flat out offering him a position – no interview required - with a starting salary four times what a recent graduate could expect to make.

Lex had grit his teeth, realizing that this was his father's way of getting in one last dig by destroying the one real friendship that Lex had ever had. But he'd gamely congratulated David and wished him well in his new job. He'd been shocked when David had laughed and called him an idiot. While Lex sat there stunned, David told him how he'd turned the offer down, because he knew what Lex's father was trying to do, and he didn't want any part of that.

To his embarrassment, Lex remembered feeling tears in his eyes at the realization that his friend had chosen _him _over what would have been an incredible opportunity for a young man just starting out in the business world. David had brushed Lex's fumbling apologies and thanks off, and invited him over to watch the baseball All-Star game on the big screen TV that had been a gift from his new in-laws.

It wasn't until David and Lindsay's daughter was born that Lex realized their friendship meant as much to David as it did to him. He was still so uncertain of his own self-worth that he thought it was a coincidence when they named her Alexa Natalie Holloway. Then they asked him to be Alexa's godfather.

He was thrilled to accept the honor, of course, and from then on, considered it part of his godfatherly responsibilities to spoil the little girl silly. And he did. By the time she was six years old, Uncle Lex was Alexa's favorite person in the whole world and she had more toys and had been on more adventures and trips to fantastic places around the world than most people three times her age.

Lex couldn't imagine loving a child of his own more than he loved Alexa, and he supposed that was a good thing, since children of his own were looking more and more doubtful the older he got. For once, though, his beloved goddaughter was not the first thing on his mind as he bounded up the walkway to David and Lindsay's home. She distracted him for a moment by leaping on him the second that he stepped in the door, but he gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek and sent her as quickly as he could into the living room so that he could talk to her father.

"Hey," David smiled as Lex walked into the kitchen and handed him a beer. "What's got you all worked up? I think I'm blinded by the smile this time instead of the shine off your head."

"Jerk," Lex said, an automatic response to David's teasing. He'd intended to lead up to his big news with a funny little story, but he was so excited, he ended up just blurting it out like a kid. "I've been awarded the National Medal of Science!"

"Is that a big deal or something?" David teased.

"Yes, it is, you uneducated cretin," Lex said in mock exasperation. "I thought I was able to teach you something during our years at MetU, but obviously I was wrong."

"Hey, I never claimed to be the genius in this friendship!" David said with a laugh.

Over dinner, Lex gleefully gave them all the details of the prestigious honor that had been bestowed upon him, David playfully cutting him off before he went into too much detail on the specific research that had won him the award. Lex gracefully glossed over some of his more intense work, as he knew that it was undoubtedly boring to most people.

"So, there's going to be a banquet and everything in about four weeks in Washington, D.C., and as my best pal in all things, I thought you might like to attend with me," Lex said, as he nodded to Lindsay's silent offer of coffee.

David frowned a little as he helped his wife clear the table before sitting back down to wait on coffee with Lex. Alexa was having ice cream for dessert and she dove into it with fervor, ignoring the grown-up talk around her.

"A banquet? Isn't that something you'd take a date to? What happened to that guy you were seeing, Brian something, wasn't it?"

It had been yet another moment in which the bonds of his friendship with David had tightened and grown even stronger when, shortly after they'd first really started hanging out together, Lex had hesitantly confessed to his best pal that he was bisexual. Lex was prepared for David being disgusted, and ending their budding friendship then and there, but once again, David had surprised him. He'd given Lex an exasperated look, told him he already knew that, and then asked Lex a question about the chemistry problem he was having trouble with in his homework.

By the time Lex had tried to reassure David that he'd never been attracted to _him_ in that way, David had already put it to the back of his mind. He'd even tried to set Lex up with a few friends that were of the same persuasion, but nothing had ever come of those attempts.

Unfortunately, Lex's luck with the rest of his life didn't seem to extend to the romantic side. It seemed that everyone he tried to date, male or female, was either repulsed by the fact that he was a Luthor or far too interested in his last name. Apparently some people still viewed him as a way to get to his father. This was something that was very frustrating to Lex, not to mention confusing because didn't any of these people remember that he had cut all ties with the demon that had spawned him?

"Yeah, that's kind of over," Lex muttered into his coffee cup. Lindsay gave him a sympathetic glance, and reached out to pat his shoulder. Then she and David looked at each other with that silent couple communication thing that made Lex so envious, and announced that it was time for Alexa to have a bath, thereby giving Lex and David a chance to talk privately.

Alexa protested a little, but eventually gave in, and after hugs and kisses from her daddy and her Uncle Lex, Lindsay carried her off down the hallway. David gave Lex an understanding glance once they were gone.

"So what happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Lex said, sardonically.

"Oh, man, not another Luthor hunter?"

"Yeah, but he really blindsided me. Didn't even mention Lionel for three whole weeks. Then, while we were at dinner last Wednesday, all of a sudden he starts talking about the importance of family, and had I ever considered reconciling with my father, because the father-son bond is so _important_," Lex said, and this time the bitterness was especially sharp.

"That sucks, Lex, it really does. I'm sorry," David said, in heartfelt sympathy. "So, how fast did you drop him?"

A decidedly evil grin stole over Lex's face as he replied, "Approximately two minutes. I went to the men's room and then snuck out the back door, leaving him with the bill to boot!"

"Nice!" David laughed as they mockingly high-fived one another.

"Yeah, he tried to call and text and e-mail for the next few days, but I just completely ignored him and he eventually gave up," Lex sighed, and then muttered under his breath, "Bastard."

David clapped him on the shoulder and tried to encourage him. "Hey, I know that somewhere out there, there's somebody that doesn't care that you're a Luthor."

"Well, probably, but finding them, that's the thing, isn't it? I just want you to know, that if I don't find this person by the time I'm thirty-five, I'm moving in with you and Lindsay," he teased.

"Oh, the horror! I'd better get you set up as quick as I can, then," David laughed. "Hey, I know what will cheer you up. Guess who flew by my window today?"

Lex immediately sat up straight and peppered David with questions. "Really? Did you get a good look at him? Did you get to _talk_ to him? Is he as devastatingly handsome in person as he is in those _Daily Planet _photos?"

"No, I didn't get to talk to him, he was outside my thirtieth floor window, idiot. But we did get a good look at him, because he wasn't moving at supersonic speed for once. Matter of fact, he must've been looking for someone, because he was kinda hovering in midair, staring down at the ground very intently."

"And? Then what happened?" Lex demanded.

"Patience, please, you're almost as bad as Alexa!" David said, but Lex noted that he'd leaned forward onto the table and was getting just as into his retelling of the story as Lex was into hearing it.

Lex supposed it was all the comic books he'd read as a child, but he was absolutely fascinated – as almost all of Metropolis was, really – with the alien that had suddenly appeared in their midst a little over a year ago. Sightings of him were becoming more frequent, but still weren't considered commonplace enough that it wasn't a huge deal whenever he did show up.

David had often teased him that his infatuation with Superman was one of the reasons that he couldn't seem to make a long-term relationship with anyone work. Lex hated to admit it, but there might have been a grain of truth in that, as he did tend to ramble on about the superhero at times.

It was one of Lex's greatest frustrations that he'd had never gotten the chance to see the man in person, but Superman seemed to limit most of his activities to the city limits of Metropolis, when he wasn't at some natural disaster elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately, Lex's lab was housed in a lonely building on the outskirts of the city, and he only had one window anyway. Lex had never had any complaints in the seven years he'd been employed by the pharmaceutical company he worked for, but he'd seriously contemplated asking for a transfer to the downtown office just to increase his chances of seeing Superman, and how sad was that?

By the time that David had finished telling his story of the Superman sighting, Lex was feeling somewhat more relaxed about the Brian incident, and was even able to put it out of his head completely. Unfortunately, there were still other things weighing on his mind.

"Oh, and did I forget to tell you that the _Daily Planet_ is going to send a reporter out to interview me day after tomorrow?" Lex said casually.

It was a testament to how well David knew Lex that he realized this was not entirely good news. He gave his best friend a measuring look before asking carefully, "And you're worried about this because…"

Lex hunched his shoulders a little and took another sip of Lindsay's excellent coffee before he answered. "I guess I'm just concerned that the focus is going to be more on my last name than on what I've accomplished. It would be nice to have an article in the paper be about something I've done right, rather than how much blow I've ingested or how many blowjobs I've given."

David, well used to Lex's bluntness when it came to talking about his former life, simply reached out and slapped Lex on the back in encouragement. "Look, an interview in the _Daily Planet_ is just one small aspect of the honor that's been given to you. And who says you have to do it anyway?"

Lex gave a harsh chuckle. "My boss, actually. He says it'll be good press for the lab, and he's been pushing to have our R&D budget increased for next fiscal year, so this'll be a big boost for him."

"Oh. Well, that sucks."

"Yeah," Lex sighed in agreement.

"Okay, here's what you need to do then. You're a Luthor still, right? A better man than your father could ever hope to be, but you got his genes, man. Take control of that interview. Make sure that it goes the way you want it to go, and if the reporter starts getting off track, you get 'im right back on track, _your_ track, the way you want it to go."

Lex stared hard at David for a moment and then gave a rueful laugh. "You know, you're the only person who could remind me that I am my father's son and not make me want to stab you in the face."

"What can I say? It's a gift," David said, a sly grin crossing his lips.

The rest of the evening was decidedly lighter in tone, as Lindsay rejoined them after getting Alexa to bed, and the three of them watched a movie that Lex had brought with him. Both he and David teased Lindsay about crying at the sad parts and she accused the two of them of being heartless and cruel at not seeing the obvious heartache of the two lovers onscreen. Before Lex finally left for the night, David promised him that if he hadn't found anyone else to go to the award banquet with him in the next couple of weeks, then he'd be glad to go along.

Lex climbed into his car and headed back towards his own apartment, feeling as usual the warm afterglow of having spent time with dear friends, and a touch of envy that he hadn't yet been able to find what the two of them shared. Sometimes Lex feared that he never would, and he was a little disheartened by how melancholy that thought made him feel.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

By the time the day of the interview arrived, Lex was feeling better about the coming ordeal, although he was still a little apprehensive. Over the course of the morning, he had almost managed to forget about it, getting lost in his work as he was prone to do, and then the receptionist called to let him know that his two o'clock appointment had arrived. Frustrated, Lex glanced up at the clock and saw that, yes, it really was that late, and damn it, he'd forgotten to eat lunch again.

He told Sandy to let the reporter know that he'd be down momentarily, and then hung up the phone, pausing to try and regain his earlier confidence. On the way down in the elevator, he gave himself another little pep talk, reminding himself of David's words that he had to take control of the interview from the beginning.

It was difficult, though, as Lex had never enjoyed talking to reporters. In fact, he'd rarely talked to them by choice; more often, it was one of them ambushing him after a wild party or some new scandal he'd created to piss off his father. And he would never forget the way they'd been the ones to brutally tell him that his mother had died. That incident was no doubt part of the reason that he despised the media so much.

When the elevator doors opened up, Lex's first impression of the reporter was that he was very tall. The man was facing away from him, staring intently at the sole picture that graced the lobby of Building 142. Lex wondered why it seemed to hold the man's attention so solidly as it was only a rather poor image of a red barn in the middle of a field. Not exactly a Picasso, but the reporter was studying it as though it were.

Lex cleared his throat politely and the man turned around. His next impression was wow, that was a really blinding smile, and damn, if he wasn't the sexiest man Lex had seen in ages. Then the oddest thing happened. The blinding smile dimmed and the young man seemed to curl in on himself slightly, pulling back the sex god and emerging as a normal looking person. Not that it still wasn't obvious that he was attractive, but he seemed somehow…smaller.

If Lex hadn't seen this transformation with his own eyes – and he wondered if anyone else might have even noticed it, as smoothly as it was done – he might not have believed it.

"Hi, Mr. Luthor, I'm Clark Kent, from the _Daily Planet_?"

The man held out his hand, and Lex automatically took it. A firm shake, but not too hard, and Lex imagined that someone of this man's size had to keep his strength in mind at all times. He still found himself very attracted, and this threw him off balance a little. And when Lex Luthor was unsettled, sometimes he fell back on old Luthor habits.

"Are you telling me, or asking me, because I would think that only you would know for sure," Lex said, his tone slipping into the sardonic one that he'd once used all the time.

To his surprise, the reporter blushed, and Lex's attraction merely shot up another notch. Damn, how was he ever going to make it through this interview?

"Um, telling you…yeah, I'm Clark Kent, reporter from the ah, _Daily Planet_," he stammered. "I'm here to interview you about the National Medal of Science award."

"Wonderful. I'll take you up to my lab and we can get started."

"Great!" Kent said, and gave him that beaming smile again.

"In order to do that, you're probably going to have to give me my hand back," Lex said, his smile becoming a bit teasing.

"Oh!" Kent said and dropped his hand as though it were burning his skin. "Right! Sorry, um, about that."

"No harm done," Lex said, and led Kent over to the elevator.

The silence during the short ride up threatened to become a little uncomfortable, and Lex remembered David's advice of taking control of the interview. With that in mind, he cast about for some neutral topic of conversation to put the both of them at ease.

"So did you draw the short straw?"

Kent turned his head and gave him a confused look. "I'm sorry?"

"To get to do this interview. I know that even though the subject is going to be somewhat boring, I am still a Luthor, and I figured that I'm still notorious enough to cause a little bit of interest."

"Oh, that. Well, when the assignment first came down, there was some interest from a few people, most notably my partner, Lois Lane. But then our editor reminded her that we're not the _Inquisitor_, and that the article had quote 'damn well better be about that science award he won, and not his father' unquote and she quickly changed her mind."

"I see," Lex said, and a part of him was a little chagrined that he must have imagined that he'd still be of interest to everyone just for who he was. Although he was not ungrateful, because hopefully, the interview would be much easier than he'd worried it would be. "So it was more like you got stuck with me, then."

"No, absolutely not. I asked Perry… that's my editor, Perry White…if I could have the assignment, because I've always been interested in math and science. I've read a few of your articles in the _Metropolis Science Journal_ and I liked them very much."

"You read my articles?" Lex asked, still a little stunned even when Kent nodded. "And you understood them?" he asked, then realized how insulting that sounded. "I mean, they're a bit more in depth than I would have thought a lay person would enjoy."

"Well, I have to confess that some of it was over my head, but what I understood, I enjoyed a lot. You have some intriguing theories."

"Wow. That's…just wow." A man who looked like this, and was…Lex stole a quick glance at his bare left ring finger…perhaps single, interested in the sciences, and NOT put off by the Luthor last name? There was no way that Lex's luck would carry over into him being gay.

Lex found himself somewhat flustered now, and searched for something to say that would regain his equilibrium, because they were now stepping off the elevator and headed towards his lab.

"Do you normally do interviews then?"

"Sometimes. I've worked the city beat, the crime beat, done some op-ed pieces, as well as a few celebrity interviews."

They came to a stop in front of Lex's office, and he pulled his key ring out of his pocket, and stepped up to unlock the door, as he said, "Celebrities, hmm? Have you interviewed anyone I would know?"

"Maybe a few, but I guess the one that's the most well known is Superman," Kent said.

Lex had just put his key in the door and started to turn it when Kent's words made him jump in amazement, causing his key to snap off inside the lock. Lex leaned forward and rested his head on the door frame, trying to still his racing heart. Astonishing good looks, interested in science, maybe single, not put off by Lex's last name, AND the man had met and talked to his idol.

Lex was doomed. _Oh, dear god, please let him be gay!_

"Oh, that really sucks. I hate when that happens," Kent said, peering around his shoulder to gaze at the broken key.

Lex straightened and turned to look at him. "Does that happen to you a lot, then?"

Kent grinned and said, "Sometimes I don't know my own strength."

"All right then. Looks like we won't be able to do the interview in my lab, which is rather problematic because there were a few things that I wanted to show you in there. But I know maintenance and it'll take them at least a couple of hours to get up here to fix this."

"I can always get most of the interview today, and then come back another day to see anything you wanted to show me," Kent offered.

Get another chance to see this intriguing man? Lex wouldn't pass that up for anything. He found himself nodding at Kent in agreement. "That would be great. As it is, I accidentally worked through lunch today and I'm pretty hungry. There's a decent sandwich shop just down the street. Perhaps you'd like to go there and do the interview?"

"I never turn down a meal," Kent said. "Do they have pie?"

That lunch was one of the most pleasant ones that Lex could recall in a very long time. Clark was easy to talk to, asked intelligent questions, and that smile made Lex's heart beat a little faster every time he saw it. As much as he enjoyed it, however, Lex didn't quite have the nerve to blatantly ask Kent out, even though he dearly wanted to.

He reminded himself that this was a reporter, and god forbid he should make a move, the man not be gay, and then it would be all over the front page of the _Daily Planet_ for certain. The only time Kent showed any signs of discomfort was when Lex had asked about Superman. It struck him as a little odd, but then he figured that Clark was probably asked about the superhero all the time as it turned out he'd written several articles about him and had something of a friendship with the alien.

Perhaps Clark worried about people trying to get to Superman through him in the same way that Lex had to deal with people trying to get to Lionel.

In some ways, Clark Kent seemed like an open book, but Lex had the sense that he kept a lot of himself hidden, which was very frustrating since Lex was trying to figure out if Kent was of the same sexual persuasion as he was. By the time the lunch was over, Lex felt like he'd spilled his deepest secrets and he still didn't really know anything more about Clark Kent other than that he really liked apple pie. Lex had no idea how the man kept the physique he had if he usually ate three pieces like that.

By the time the reporter had shaken his hand and taken his leave, Lex was reduced to almost begging inwardly that he was reading the small signs right. Kent had seemed as interested in Lex as Lex was in him, and he hoped that wasn't just the reporter in him. All Lex knew was that he was going to get another chance to find out because Clark had agreed to come back in a couple of days to finish up the interview with the things that Lex wanted to show him in his lab.

He was trying very hard not to think of it as a date, but he really wanted that to be the case. When he called David that night to tell him how it went, Lex had to endure massive amounts of teasing at the so-called gushing that he was doing over Clark Kent. David even joked that maybe Lex had finally found someone who could make him forget about Superman. Something twinged in Lex's subconscious at that remark, but he couldn't make sense of it, so he dismissed it for the moment.

All he knew was that he was very much looking forward to seeing Clark Kent again.

The tour through his laboratory went smoothly, although a lot faster than was normal for Lex. Usually when he showed someone his work, especially someone who was already interested, Lex would get carried away and end up talking far too long. But today, all he could think about was getting up the nerve to ask Clark if he wanted to go out to dinner with him that evening.

Clark made notes, asked more insightful questions, and before Lex knew it, the interview was over. He was wondering where all his Luthor courage seemed to have fled to, and was struggling to get the simple words 'Hey, would you like to go out to dinner with me?' out of his mouth when Kent beat him to it.

"I was, ah, just thinking, Lex…" Clark said, a tinge of red tinting his cheeks as he glanced down at his feet briefly before looking up at Lex from under a fringe of messy bangs. Lex really wanted to rip those horrid glasses off his face so he could see Clark's eyes. They looked to be a very intriguing shade of green.

"That's a dangerous thing to do, now isn't it, Clark?" Lex teased. They'd quickly agreed to dispense with formalities and call each other by their given names.

Clark's blush deepened a bit, and he smiled. "Yeah, I guess it can be at that. But I was doing it anyway, and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to have dinner tonight? Unless you have other plans, of course," he added hastily.

Lex's heart practically leapt with excitement, but he decided to remain cautious. "Did you need something further for the article?"

"Uh, no, no. I just…I like you, um, very much, and I kind of wanted to…uh, get to know you better. Outside of your lab, that is," Clark said in a rush, and Lex could almost see the man sweating from here.

How very brave he was, though, that he'd managed to get the question out there when Lex himself hadn't been able to do so. He felt his heart melt just a little bit more. As he gave his answer, he gave Clark a smile that almost rivaled the brightness of the one Clark had first bestowed on him.

"I have no other plans and I'd love to have dinner with you, Clark."

Clark had to go back to the _Daily Planet_ to file his story and the two of them made arrangements to meet at seven at a restaurant they both knew and liked in downtown Metropolis. Lex rushed home as fast as he could, because he knew that he'd need at least an hour to obsess over what to wear.

Digging through his closet, he considered and discarded about a dozen shirts before hesitantly holding up one of silk in a pale lilac color. Hmm, purple shirt…was that being a bit too blatant? He decided not as he slipped it on and buttoned it up. This had always been one of his favorite shirts anyway, and he knew that he looked very good in it.

Slacks and shoes were an easier choice, and then he just had to apply some moisturizer, and just a little bit of cologne. Nothing too overwhelming, Clark didn't really seem the type to like a heavy scent. Lex grinned to himself as he realized he was already starting to get a sense of things that Clark would like or dislike. Hopefully, by the time the evening was over, he'd know a whole lot more.

He arrived at the restaurant precisely at seven. Since he had become a scientist, punctuality had become one of his biggest pet peeves, whereas before he'd thought nothing of making his so-called friends or his father wait on him. Clark wasn't there yet, which made him frown just a little. But perhaps his watch was a little fast.

Lex glanced up at the clock on the wall of the restaurant and saw that it also read exactly seven. Well, maybe Clark's watch was a little slow.

At ten minutes after seven, Lex was slightly annoyed. By twenty minutes after, he was rather pissed off. He wasn't sure if it was more at Clark for standing him up, or at himself for getting his hopes up once again. Maybe Lionel had placed some sort of curse on his love life.

He had just started to stand and attempt to leave with some dignity, already having ignored the waiter's curious and pitying looks, when Clark came in the door. Lex sat back down, momentarily stunned by the sight of him. Clark was wearing khakis and a brick red pullover sweater that beautifully set off his dark hair. He was flushed and his hair was all adorably messy, as though he'd just run his fingers through it to try and tame the tendency it had to curl.

Lex watched as Clark glanced around the restaurant anxiously and when his gaze lit on the man he was looking for, his entire face lit up in a big smile. Lex had to squeeze his thighs together in an attempt to control the hard-on that immediately popped up. Clark made his way across the restaurant and Lex noticed that many interested glances, both male and female, followed his path. He indulged in a moment of smugness that this beautiful man was here to meet him.

Clark sat down across from him, apologies pouring from his mouth.

"I'm really sorry, Lex, I got tied up in, um, helping out a friend and I just couldn't get away. Please forgive me for making you wait. Although I'm really glad that you did," Clark said with that beaming smile.

Lex struggled not to let that smile overwhelm him. He couldn't let Clark have all the power in this relationship, after all. If there even was going to be a relationship.

"That's quite all right, Clark, although you should know that I'm a bit of a stickler for punctuality. Or at least I've become so in recent years. I believe it shows disrespect to keep someone waiting when both parties have agreed to a certain meeting time."

Clark's face fell just a little and he looked at Lex seriously. "I understand, Lex, and I apologize again. But at the same time, I have to admit that there are…many demands on my time, and sometimes they're demands that I can do very little to control. But I promise you that I'll never intentionally leave you hanging."

The intensity of Clark's gaze made the pit of Lex's stomach tingle pleasantly and he had to force himself to stop imagining what that expression would look like if both he and Clark were naked and…well, better to just cut that fantasy short right there or he'd never make it through this dinner. Lex gave a small cough, getting his libido back under control.

"That's good to know, Clark. Although I would appreciate a call in the future if you know you're going to be more than a few minutes late," Lex said, then wanted to kick himself. This was a first date! No talking about a 'future' on the first date! Fortunately, Clark didn't seem put off by his words and, in fact, seemed quite pleased by the prospect of future dates, if Lex was reading him correctly.

After that shaky start, the two of them settled down to eat their meals and enjoyed a very intriguing conversation. Lex found that Clark was a bit more well-traveled than he first appeared. He spoke of how he'd wandered around the world for almost three years once he'd graduated from high school, and then he'd come home to Metropolis and doubled up on his courses at MetU to graduate with a degree in journalism in only two and a half years.

Lex realized that if Clark hadn't taken that trip, he would have entered into MetU as a freshman the same year that Lex was a senior, since Lex had had to delay his starting classes until he got his mother's money. Lex pondered for a moment what might have happened had he and Clark met several years earlier. Would they have been friends? Perhaps more than friends?

He tried to shake that line of thought. There was no use in trying to figure out how things might have been, when he could concentrate on the here and now, with the Clark Kent that was right in front of him. Lex still wasn't very trusting of many people back then, so in all likelihood, he wouldn't have given a freshman the time of day, even if he did look like a god come to life.

There was a slight lull in the conversation, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. Lex was just beginning to hope that perhaps his luck had somehow taken a turn for the better on the romantic – and hopefully on the getting laid – front, when Clark startled him.

"You're really not what I expected you to be," he mused.

Lex gave him a teasingly wicked grin. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing? And what exactly were you expecting?"

"Well, after dealing with your father, I expected you to be more like him, I guess."

The words hit him like a flash flood of ice cold water in the face. His expression went purposely bland and he stared at Clark for a moment before saying flatly, "You know my father?"

Clark seemed to have realized that he might have blundered by Lex's reaction and said carefully, "Um, yeah. I've interviewed him once or twice. And I'm from Smallville, so I met him before I ever came to Metropolis because I know Lucas."

"You know my brother, too?" Lex asked, and while his voice may have been calm, his mind was utterly reeling with shock and with disappointment that Kent was nothing more than a Luthor hunter after all. Hell, _Lex_ hadn't even met Lucas, and this man had the gall to just throw his brother's name out there as if it were no big deal?

Kent had the look of a man who knew that he was walking on a thin line, but had no idea how to get to more steady ground. "Yes, your father, uh, exiled Lucas to the fertilizer plant in Smallville for a couple of years when I was in high school and I met him then. It's, um, a pretty small town, hence the name," he tried to joke.

Lex was not amused. Kent being from Smallville was yet another strike against him in Lex's mind. He didn't like to remember the fact that the town of Smallville even existed. It was the place of a lot of his nightmares even to this day.

"You didn't think it pertinent to mention this information when I agreed to this dinner with you?" he asked, the Luthor defenses kicking in now, making his voice and manner cold and unforgiving.

"I, uh, I honestly didn't think about it," Clark stammered. "Lex, I'm really sorry if I've upset you. I never intended to."

"Oh, I'm not upset, Clark. I'm fine, just fine," Lex lied with a cool smile. "I do, however, have to go. Sorry to cut our evening short," he said, standing and tossing his napkin on the table as he did so.

"Lex, please don't leave. I don't know what else I can say to make you see how sorry I am," Clark said quickly as he rose to his feet as well.

"It's quite all right, Clark," Lex said, making his escape. "I'll call you," he threw back over his shoulder as he left Kent standing helplessly alone at the table, knowing that both of them realized he wouldn't call.

Just before he walked out the door, Lex risked a look back to see Clark slumping down into his chair, an extremely dejected look on his face. He almost caved, almost turned around and walked back over to the most fascinating man he'd met in years, ready to accept his apology. But if Lex had learned one thing from Lionel, it was to never give anyone a second chance. Most people rarely deserved it.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Lex spent the next couple of days berating himself inwardly for being foolish enough to get his hopes up so high. Grudgingly, he told David what had happened and braced himself for another round of teasing, but that didn't occur. Instead, David was completely sympathetic and Lex wondered if he'd been _that_ transparent in how quickly he'd nearly fallen for Clark Kent.

And now he was kidding himself. Nearly fallen? He'd been two heartbeats away from practically declaring his undying love for the reporter. Lex was thoroughly disgusted with his own actions over the last week. No wonder Lionel had so often accused him of being ruled by his emotions. Evidently, it was the truth.

Even more disheartening was the fact that he'd been unable to resist looking into Clark Kent's story about knowing Lucas from Smallville. There was a lot more information than he would have thought, although he shouldn't have been surprised from what he knew of Lucas. His brother seemed determined to put even Lex to shame with some of his escapades.

Apparently, the first time that Clark Kent had met Lucas Luthor was in saving his life after Lucas had driven his car off a bridge. Clark had happened to be nearby, dove in and pulled Lucas out of the river, and then given him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He realized with some dismay that he was absurdly jealous that Lucas had had Clark's mouth on his where Lex would never get that chance.

Clark's name showed up in the _Smallville Ledger_ quite frequently, actually, usually after rescuing some town member from one of the weird mutants that were crawling all over the tiny town for some reason. Lex decided that Clark was either very brave or very stupid to go around challenging such creatures on a regular basis. It wasn't until he stumbled on a website for the high school's newspaper, the _Smallville High Torch_, that Lex had another epiphany.

The meteor shower that had caused him to lose his hair had affected many other people in the town as well. Perhaps even Clark himself, because some of those rescues just seemed too incredible to believe. How on earth had Clark stood up against a man who could set things on fire, a girl who could change her shape at will, a boy who could make people do whatever he commanded just by saying so, and a girl who could physically teleport herself from one place to another? And those were just a few of the stories in the _Torch_! There were dozens more along the same lines.

In fact, it seemed to be the same story over and over again. Otherwise normal teen suddenly goes mutant and goes crazy, rampaging through some part of the town, threatening others in some way. (Oddly enough, the perpetual victim seemed to be some girl named Lana Lang. Her name popped up almost as much as Clark's, only he was habitually the rescuer and she was the rescuee. Either her, or the editor of the _Torch _herself, one Chloe Sullivan.) After a brief period in which the mutant caused malice and mayhem around the town, Clark Kent showed up and somehow managed to save the day. His explanations of what exactly happened always seemed a little vague to Lex.

To his surprise, Clark had also been arrested a couple of times. One instance was for getting into an altercation with a schoolmate that had been so intense, the other boy had gone to the hospital. The other was for suspicion of committing arson, although the charges were later dropped. Lex found that almost too astonishing to believe. He considered himself a fairly good judge of character – except when it came to his heart, unfortunately – and he would never have pegged Clark Kent for an arsonist.

Even more intriguing was the fact that the real arsonist had turned out to be none other than Lucas' new gold-digging wife and she had been revealed to be a meteor mutant as well. She could control men through some kind of pheromone and make them do whatever she commanded. This 'Desiree' had then tried to get Clark Kent to kill her new husband. How the hell had Clark been able to resist her when it seemed that no one else could? It was the most bizarre thing Lex had ever heard of and he ended up spending two solid days just investigating Clark Jerome Kent.

He was only able to break away when his boss called him at home and demanded to know why he'd called in sick for the third day in a row, and told him if he wanted to keep his job, Lex had better get his ass into the lab pronto, National Medal of Science winner or not. Still, even back at work he found himself constantly distracted by the thoughts of dark hair, green eyes, and the most beautiful mouth he'd seen in years.

Lex had thought that Clark might try to press the matter, but other than one rather rambling phone message the evening of their disastrous date, he'd heard nothing more from the reporter. Frustratingly, Lex had been unable to bring himself to delete the message as of yet. In fact, he had gotten into the habit of calling his voicemail a couple of times a day just to listen to it.

"_Hi, Lex, this is, um, Clark. Clark Kent. I, uh, I just wanted to say again that I'm sorry about not telling you that I know your dad. I mean, it didn't occur to me that you'd be mad. Which is, ah, really stupid of me, I know. I mean, I know you don't get along with him. Shit, everyone in Metropolis knows that, but I swear…I just didn't think! I do that a lot sometimes, not thinking about important stuff, I mean. Not that that means I didn't think our date was important, Lex, cause I did…I still do! I wish you'd give me another chance, but if you don't, I guess I understand. Even though I really, really like you, Lex. I mean a LOT. Damn, that'll probably freak you out as much as the Lionel thing. Shit, I am so totally fucking this up…"_

At this point, there was a thunk and a small clatter, and Lex could hear Clark mumbling to himself. He thought it sounded like Kent believed he'd hung the phone up, but had somehow failed to break the connection.

"_Great Rao, I am such an idiot. Great going there, Kal, ruin what could be the best thing of your life before it even gets started."_ A loud sigh. Then a startled exclamation, as Clark must have realized the phone line was still open. _"Oh, shit!"_ And the message ended.

Those few muttered words, ones he'd had to listen to numerous times before he'd been able to make them out, intrigued Lex so much that he almost considered calling Clark and asking him to explain them. What kind of exclamation was 'Great Rao'? Lex had never heard of such before and he knew dirty words in a dozen different languages. He still wasn't sure if Clark had called himself 'Cal' or if he'd said something like 'pal' because that part of the message was pretty muffled. Either way, Lex wasn't sure if he was glad to be away from someone who may be using an assumed identity or if he was just fascinated by everything about Clark Kent and wanted to know more.

But it couldn't really be an assumed identity, unless he'd assumed it when he was about twelve, because that's when stories about Clark Kent started popping up in the _Smallville Ledger_. Maybe Kent had multiple personalities and Lex should be thanking his lucky stars he'd gotten out of a potentially dangerous situation before the reporter went completely schizo on him.

"And I am thinking about this way too goddamned much," Lex groaned aloud as he lost his place in transcribing his notes for the fourth time. With a renewed determination to forget that he had ever met Clark Kent, Lex put the whole mess out of his mind and focused on his work.

He'd finally managed to lose himself in the work once again, when he was distracted by an odd tapping noise. Lex turned to glance at the door to his lab curiously when the tapping happened again, a little louder this time. With a frustrated sigh, he stood and walked over to the door, ready to let someone have it for interrupting his work when he'd just been able to get himself re-situated.

He whipped open the door, and faltered on his scathing speech because there was no one there. Well, that was even worse! Were the people he worked with reduced to playing practical jokes now? Angry, and really wanting someone to vent that anger on, Lex turned around to stalk back over to his phone. He'd get to the bottom of this quick enough.

He'd punched in the first two numbers of Sandy's extension when the tapping noise sounded again, and this time he could tell it was not coming from the door. Lex turned his head to look out the window and dropped the phone in shock.

Superman was floating outside his window.

_Superman_ was floating outside _his_ window!

Lex stared at the superhero open mouthed for a moment, and then blinked as Superman gave a little wave. Dazed, Lex waved back and wondered if he was dreaming. Superman gestured towards the window with a raised eyebrow. Lex simply continued to stare at him, until he realized that the man was asking if he could come in.

Extremely flustered, and very annoyed by that fact, Lex tried to calm himself as he fumbled with the window to open it. The glass pane swung outwards and Lex stepped back as Superman floated into the room and touched down gently onto the floor. Lex was awed at how graceful the alien was.

"Lex Luthor, I presume?" Superman said, and Lex felt a shiver go through him at how richly deep his voice was.

"Yes, I'm Lex Luthor," he replied, a little unnerved that the superhero knew who he was. As much as he was awed by being in the alien's presence, Lex still had those suspicious Luthor genes.

"I suppose you're wondering why I'm here. I'm a friend of Clark Kent."

Lex was flabbergasted. Clark had sent _Superman_ to speak for him? On the one hand, Lex was irritated that Kent thought Lex was so easy as to be overwhelmed by a flying man that he obviously hoped Lex would forgive him and talk to him again. On the other hand, he was a little impressed by Kent's sneakiness.

"Clark sent you to try and apologize for him?" Lex said, allowing a tiny sneer to cross his face.

Superman just gave him a puzzled look. "No, I'm unaware of any disagreement you might have had with Clark. He simply mentioned your name to me when I was telling him about a project I have in mind."

"Oh," Lex said, a little abashed, and told himself that was _not_ disappointment he felt. He gave a nervous little cough, and then cursed himself for that small tell, before gathering his composure and looking coolly – he hoped – at Superman. "A project, you said?"

"Yes," Superman said, and flashed Lex a brief smile that definitely caused Lex's heart rate to increase a little. "How much do you know about me, Mr. Luthor?"

"I read the article that Ms. Lane wrote when you first arrived in Metropolis, the one that said you were from a planet called Krypton," Lex said. He declined to mention that he had that and every other article that had ever appeared in the _Daily Planet_ about the alien in a scrapbook at home.

"Ah, yes, Lois Lane's article, the one that gave me this lovely nickname," Superman said, his tone a little dry.

Lex paused a moment before he answered. Was Superman teasing with him? How…exciting. Lex scrabbled for that Luthor control before he made an utter ass out of himself. He hoped that the superhero couldn't tell he was about to pop with glee.

"Well, I did think _Super_man was a tad egotistical," Lex said casually, and prayed that the man had a sense of humor.

Superman gave him another little grin and said, "See, I thought so, too, but by the time I saw the article, well, I was pretty much stuck with it."

"So, what is your name then?" Lex asked. Superman hesitated and Lex realized his blunder. "Oh, but of course you probably don't really want people to know that, do you?"

"I don't mind if certain people know it. My true name is Kal-El."

He gave Lex an intense stare as he shared this bit of information, and Lex found himself swallowing just to keep his mouth from going completely dry.

"Kal-El. That's a very nice name," Lex said inanely, his whole being distracted by the alien's eyes on him.

Superman seemed to relax a little then and toned down the intensity of his gaze on Lex. "So, the article told how I came from Krypton and crash-landed here on earth. What I didn't tell Ms. Lane is that there's no going back to Krypton for me. My planet was destroyed and I am the last known survivor of my race."

"That must be a difficult burden to bear," Lex said quietly. He'd often felt alone after leaving his father, but – as much as Lex despised Lionel – at least his father was still _there_. He didn't like to think that he was naïve enough to hope for a reconciliation someday, but that tiny little hope that was buried deep inside his soul would probably never go completely away. Kal-El would never have that chance.

"It can be. But my father left me a lot of his knowledge about Krypton, so I feel as though I have a small piece of him and my mother always with me."

"That's a small comfort, though, I'm sure," Lex said sympathetically.

"Yes, but it is a comfort, nonetheless. The problem is, most of the information that my father sent with me is about Krypton itself, the history and the culture of our people. There's not much there that's about, well, _me_."

"I don't understand. Isn't the history and culture of your planet all about you?"

"In a way, yes, but then again, not really. I'm not sure if my father really understood all the ramifications of what my living on this planet really meant. It's Earth's yellow sun that gives me my powers. If I were living on Krypton, which had a red sun, I'd be as normal as the next person. No strength, no flight, no heat vision. I don't think he truly comprehended what my life would be like here, although he did know that the yellow sun would give me a strength that humans don't have."

"The sun gives you your powers?" Lex asked, absolutely fascinated by how much the superhero was sharing with him. "How?" he asked, the scientist in him rabidly curious to know.

"I'm not certain myself of how it actually works, but I think I'm basically like a solar battery. I soak up the sun's rays and they…give me these abilities somehow," Superman said, with a little shrug.

"Wait, how long have you been on this planet? That sounds like something that would take years…" Lex trailed off as he realized what he was saying, and also at the chagrined look on Superman's face. "Oh, my god, you've been here for years already, haven't you?"

"Can I trust you, Lex?" Superman asked, his face serious now.

"Yes, you can. I swear that anything we say here will go no further, Kal-El."

"The story I told Lois about crash landing here in a ship was true, but it happened when I was only three years old."

Lex couldn't help it. His mouth dropped open in shock. Superman chuckled lightly and reached out to push his chin up with one finger. Lex sincerely hoped that he wasn't blushing at the gentle touch.

"My adoptive parents found me in a field, and, luckily for me, rather than turn me in to the government, they decided to raise me as their own. I went to high school, dated, did chores, had fights with my friends, and eventually decided to make my life here in Metropolis, just like thousands of other small-town kids. The only difference was that I developed these powers as I grew. The older I got, the stronger I got, and I knew that I couldn't let these gifts go to waste. But I also knew that I didn't want to give up my private life, so I created Superman."

"Incredible," Lex breathed. Then he blushed a little as he realized how hero-worshippy that sounded. "I mean, how incredible that you decided to use your gifts for the good of mankind, rather than for your own benefit. You could do practically anything and no one would ever be able to stop you."

Superman's face became very stern. "I would never do anything to harm the people of Earth, Lex. I take my powers and my responsibilities very seriously."

"Of course, that's what I meant," Lex said. He cleared his throat nervously, cursing himself silently at all the ways he was showing his weakness. His father would be appalled, but this was _Superman_! The Kryptonian was lucky that Lex wasn't drooling all over his cape. "So what exactly is it that I can do for you?"

"Well, I brought you this…" Superman reached somewhere into the folds of his cape and brought out a test tube filled with a red liquid.

Lex was momentarily distracted, wondering where in the hell he had pockets on that suit, but dragged his eyes back to Superman's face.

"This is a sample of my blood. I was wondering if you might be willing to analyze it for me and…I don't know, tell me more about me?" Superman said with a little shrug.

Lex couldn't help it; his mouth gaped open again in shock. "I…I don't know what to say, Kal-El. The honor, I mean, I can't believe you would trust anyone, let alone _me_…" Oh, god, now he was actually babbling!

"Say that you'll help me. Naturally, I would prefer that you not publish your findings. I do have to be careful of certain unscrupulous people taking advantage of knowledge about me. Ms. Lane has already found herself in a couple of risky situations because people think that she's a personal friend of mine."

"She's not a close, er, personal friend, then?" Lex asked and then could have kicked himself. Could he sound any more jealous?

Superman grinned at him. "Not as close as she'd like to be, believe me."

Lex was intrigued; and interested. He could swear that it was almost like the superhero was flirting with him. But surely he couldn't be so fortunate as to have two gorgeous guys in less than a couple of weeks coming on to him. Lex knew he was attractive, but his love life had been fairly bleak before Clark Kent…and now possibly Superman? No, he was imagining things, he had to be!

He reached out and took the tube from Superman's hand, and it was not his imagination that Kal-El's fingers brushed softly against his own. To his surprise, it was the hero's turn to blush slightly, and Lex cocked an eyebrow, suddenly feeling a little back on top of his game.

Superman coughed and took a step back, folding his hands behind his back. "I'd like to thank you in advance for your help, Lex. I'm certain that whatever information you can uncover for me will be invaluable."

"How will I get in touch with you to let you know about any results?" Lex asked with a little smirk. Oh, he definitely had the upper hand now. Who would have thought that Superman could be so…human? Although Lex supposed it wasn't so out of the realm of possibility since he had been raised as a human. How very interesting indeed.

Again, Superman reached into the cape and brought out, of all things, a cell phone. He wiggled it in the air and grinned a little sneakily. "I can give you my number. I got this pre-paid phone while in disguise, so I'd have a way to keep in touch while being Superman."

Lex was impressed, but curious. "What do you do if you're in the middle of stopping a bank robbery and it rings?"

"I have it set on vibrate. Whoever calls me just has to wait until I'm done vanquishing the bad guys before I call them back. Though only a few people have this number. If I need to talk on it while I'm in uniform, I just fly up high enough where people can't see me. I get much better reception up there, too," he said.

Lex pulled out his own cell and dutifully punched in the number that Superman called out to him. He hesitated to offer his own number in return, afraid it would be too presumptuous – why would Superman ever need to call him? – but was quietly thrilled when the hero asked for it.

"It's been very nice meeting you, Lex…" he paused in the middle of that sentence, his head turning to gaze intently out the window. "I have to go, there's a fire over near Wilmont. Let me know whenever you get some test results back, won't you?"

Lex assured him that he would get started as soon as possible, although he said he couldn't set any kind of timetable, seeing that he'd have to fit this project in around his real job, and thanked him again for his trust.

"Clark said you were a good man," Superman said as he stepped out of the window. He seemed about to fly off when he turned back around with a mischievous grin. "Clark's a good man, too, Lex, and he likes you a lot. Maybe you could give him a second chance?"

Before Lex could finish sputtering out the protests to that, Superman took off like a rocket and was out of sight within seconds.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Lex spent the rest of the afternoon having a fierce internal debate. On the one hand, if there was any lesson that he'd taken with him from Lionel, the no-second-chances one was a good one and had served him well a few times over the years. On the other hand, it was pretty hard to pass on an endorsement from Superman, who also happened to be Lex's own personal hero.

His first instinct had been to call David and ask him his opinion, but he'd quickly realized this was something he couldn't share with anyone, not even his best friend. He couldn't resist picking up the slim tube with Superman's blood and turning it over in his hands, watching as the red liquid tumbled over and over. No, he would have to explain why Superman had sought him out and the gift that had been given to him was too precious, too dangerous, to share with anyone else.

He glanced at the clock and muttered a curse when he saw that it was already after six. David and Lindsay were expecting him for dinner and he was already going to be late. After putting a false name on the label, he quickly placed the tube of blood in his most secure safe and locked it away. Supposedly, no one else had access to his office – he didn't even allow the cleaning crew in here – but he wasn't going to take any chances.

David commented on the fact that he was visibly distracted that night, but Lex told him it was due to a problem he was working on in the lab…which was half true. Part of him was worrying over whether to contact Clark Kent, and part of him was dying to get started testing on that vial of blood.

Lex ended up tossing and turning, getting very little sleep that night, pondering on his two problems. Well, one of them he could solve very easily. He glanced over at his nightstand and saw that it was a few minutes before three am. He very obviously wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight, so he might as well go on into the lab. He had keys to the building, as his boss knew that he sometimes worked very odd hours, especially when he was caught up in a project.

As he pulled into the parking lot of the building, Lex frowned upon seeing an unfamiliar van parked near the rear of the lot. It had the company logo on it, although Lex couldn't recall any recent decision to purchase a company van. Still, it wasn't like he was exactly in the loop on things like that. Shrugging it off, he made his way to the front doors.

He found himself whistling a tuneless song as he rode up in the elevator, before he realized and stopped. That was a nervous habit and Lex tried not to indulge in nervous habits. As he stepped off the elevator onto his floor, he faltered at seeing what was obviously a flashlight bobbing around in the office next door to his.

Lex knew he should carefully sneak back down and out of danger. He certainly wasn't a cop or a superhero, but a tiny niggling suspicion in the back of his brain at the _timing_ of this…whatever it was, a break-in, sabotage, he didn't know. Even if they were in the wrong office, his thoughts went immediately to the vial in his safe.

Creeping as quietly as he could towards the door where the light was coming from, Lex listened.

"…not our fault the bald dude doesn't trust anyone else to have keys to his office. It shouldn't take but a few minutes to break through this wall," a voice was saying. Someone else with a lower tone mumbled something in reply, while Lex tried not to be insulted by the crass definition they'd given him. He was much more than just his lack of hair, the assholes!

And then it occurred to him that they _were_ trying to break into his office, and honestly, there was really only one thing in there that they could possibly want, although how on earth they'd found out about it so quickly, whoever 'they' were, Lex had no idea.

Well, that was just not going to happen, not on his watch, not after Superman had entrusted him with something so valuable. Moving as quickly as he could while still trying not to make much noise, Lex slid past the office the bad guys were in towards his own. It was difficult to keep the keys from clanging together, as his hands were shaking a bit, but he knew he didn't have much time.

He opened the door as little as possible and slipped inside. Once in his office, Lex didn't need any lights, as familiar with the layout here as he was with the layout of his own home. Hell, sometimes the lab seemed more like home than his apartment did.

Once he was at the safe, he attempted to control the harshness of his breathing, as he could hear the thugs drilling their way through the wall with something. The safe had a keypad combination and he pressed the numbers, holding his breath as the door swung open. Lex reached in and grabbed the vial, shoving it into his pocket, then turned back toward the door.

"What are you doin', Clint?" one of the voices suddenly asked.

Lex froze.

"Thought I heard something…hey, the office door is open! That wasn't open before, was it?"

"Shit," Lex whispered to himself, as he saw the beam of the flashlight arc across his door. Not giving himself time to think of the danger, Lex sprinted to the window. Thankfully, the fire escape was outside his window. Of course, he was going to have to inch along a ledge for about five feet to reach it, but Lex tried not to dwell on that.

He also didn't worry about the noise he was making anymore, as they'd certainly realized someone was in the building. Lex was halfway out the window before he heard a shout behind him. Scrambling along the ledge, resolutely refusing to look down, Lex latched onto the ladder of the fire escape, which was just a single ladder against the side of the building. He started to go down, when he heard another shout, this time from below him.

"Fuck!" he cursed. They'd left someone in the parking lot. Lex had no idea why the man hadn't seen him pull into the lot, unless he'd been taking a piss or something. Changing course, he headed up. He had no clue what he was going to do when he got to the roof, but his options were rather limited at the moment.

"It's Luthor!" one of the voices shouted, and Lex chanced a glance down to see two heads poking out the window of his office. To his horror, one of them pulled out a gun and took a shot. Lex thought it was intended as a warning, as it was significantly wide.

"Get back down here, Luthor, or the next one is right through your back!"

"Hope you're that good a shot, then!" Lex taunted and continued climbing. The next shot hit the bricks mere inches from his head. "Fuck!"

"I am! If you don't want to die, you'd better start back down!"

Thinking furiously, Lex paused, then let go of the ladder with one hand and pulled the vial out of his pocket. He half-turned on the ladder to show them what he had. "You shoot me, and I'll fall! If I fall, this vial will break and the sample will be destroyed! I don't think you want that!"

Lex hadn't been one hundred per cent sure that Superman's blood was what they were after…until the goon with the gun cursed vividly and lowered his weapon. They got into a brief argument as to which one of them was going to follow him, and Lex took the opportunity to move faster up the ladder. When the arguing stopped, he glanced down again and saw that one of them was gone, which meant they'd realized they could gain access to the roof from inside the building.

Lex cursed, as this would also cut off his own escape route. _What the hell am I going to do? _he thought, trying not to panic. Then he could have slapped himself, as he remembered that he had a fucking cell phone! Scrambling over the edge of the roof, Lex fumbled to get his cell phone out of his back pocket. He started to press 911, but realized immediately that there was no way they'd get there in time to help him.

Holding his breath, he hit speed dial #1 on the keypad – because of course Superman rated the number one position – and listened to it ring. Thankfully, a sleepy voice mumbled 'hello' fairly quickly.

"Um, Superman, Lex Luthor here…I'm, er, kind of in a bind."

"Problems with the blood?" Superman asked.

"No, someone's trying to steal it and they've chased me up on the roof, and they have guns, and I just really don't see how I'm going to get out of this without your help-"

"I'll be there in one minute," Superman said, his voice suddenly sounding like steel, and then he hung up.

Lex stared at the phone in his hand somewhat numbly. Hopefully, one minute would be quick enough…

But it became clearly evident that it wasn't going to be, because he heard a shout from behind him. Lex turned, shoving the cell back in his pocket as he did so.

"We don't have orders to hurt you, Luthor, but we don't mind doing it. Just hand over the vial and we'll let you walk away," said the thug, and he still had the gun pointed at him, as he held out his other hand, as if Lex was really going to just hand his treasure over.

"You're not getting it," Lex declared.

"We'll get it, one way or the other. The only question is whether you hand it over willingly, or if I have to pry it out of your hand after you're dead." He took another few steps towards Lex.

Lex didn't answer, deciding quickly that bantering with the thugs who were threatening him and trying to steal from him was not something that he was willing to stoop to. Instead, he backed closer to the edge of the of the roof, holding the vial over the side in a silent threat. He could see the frustration on the gunman's face. They'd probably thought this was going to be a simple B&E and robbery, and Lex had messed that up for them.

_Surely it's been a minute by now_, Lex thought, not a little desperately.

He unconsciously flicked his gaze upwards to the skies, looking for his rescuer, and that's when the bad guy struck, taking advantage of Lex's momentary distraction. The man lunged forward and grabbed the wrist of the arm holding the vial, while he jabbed the gun into Lex's ribs. Lex cried out in shock and tightened his fingers around the vial, even as the gunman's fingers crept over his, trying to pry them loose.

They wrestled for long moment, and then there was a loud sound, and sudden pain bloomed through Lex's side. He grunted in surprise, and his fingers loosened just enough for the thug to rip the precious vial away from his grasp.

"No…" he said weakly, and then he gasped as the man gave his limp body a shove, sending him over the edge of the roof he'd struggled so valiantly to reach.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, long enough to give Lex time to regret the many things he'd left unfinished…his experiments; the thing with Clark Kent, because that was so not done, and he could admit that now that it was too late; his friendship with David, because he'd never be able to repay his best friend for the many ways he'd helped to save Lex from himself; and he'd never gotten to see his damned Medal!

But he regretted most of all that he'd failed Superman's trust in him, allowing his blood to fall into the hands of people who could not possibly want the vial for anything but evil. Building 142 was only a dozen stories tall, and he knew the ground would come up frighteningly fast, but it was long enough for Lex to manage to begin to mutter an apology.

"So sorry…"

He had just closed his eyes, when he heard a loud _whoosh _and suddenly he was plucked out of free falling by two strong and gentle arms. They flew straight up above the building from where Lex had fallen and he opened his eyes to see Superman's worried face staring back at him.

"Lex! Can you hear me? I'm going to get you to a hospital. You've been shot, but it doesn't look too bad," the superhero said.

Lex wanted to protest that it _felt_ really bad, but his mouth didn't seem to be cooperating with him at the moment. There was something he needed to tell Superman, something extremely important, but Lex's mind felt like it had been scrambled and he couldn't remember what he needed to say.

Then it hit him…the blood! Lex needed to warn Superman that his blood sample had been stolen. He just hoped that the Kryptonian would still be speaking to him after he found out that Lex had allowed it to be taken from him. And hopefully, Superman would be able to find the scumbags who'd stolen it and get the blood back before they could figure out a way to harm him by using it.

"Kal-El…guy took th' blood…m'sorry," Lex managed to mumble.

"I'm not worried about that right now, Lex. I just want to get you to a hospital as quick as I can. I wish I could fly you faster, but my top speed would be too dangerous for you, and I don't want to hurt you any worse than you already are," Superman said, and Lex could hear the worried tone in his voice.

_Huh, he's actually babbling away like he's nervous or something,_ Lex thought to himself. _How strange, that he should be so worried about me when he barely knows me…_

"Lex? Are you still with me? Can you hear me?" Superman asked, sounding even more frantic. "We're almost there, I promise!"

Despite his pain, Lex was intrigued at the obvious fear and worry that the superhero was displaying. Surely he didn't get this emotional at each rescue he made? Perhaps it was a little misplaced guilt that it was his blood that had caused Lex to be injured? Squinting his eyes against the wind rushing against him, Lex peered up at Superman's face.

And suddenly, it was as though two giant puzzle pieces just clicked into place. Lex wasn't sure if it was something about the superhero's voice, or the tilt of his head, or if it was just some intuition he'd never realized he'd had, but it was so obvious he was astonished that no one had caught on before him.

"Clark?" he gasped in amazement. The reporter that Lex had been obsessing over and the superhero that he'd _also_ been obsessing over were the same person! In one moment of irony, Lex had the stray thought that at least this narrowed down his obsessions by one.

He hadn't meant to blurt out Superman's true identity so clumsily, and Lex had the brief fear that he might get dropped out of the sky to protect the secret, but somehow, the superhero must have misunderstood his meaning in saying his true name.

"You want to see Clark?" Superman said, and he smiled, his teeth shining very white against the darkness of the sky. "I can arrange that, Lex. As soon as I get you to the emergency room, I'll give Clark a call."

Lex thought he sounded absurdly happy at the idea, and he was so confused by that realization, that he just decided to keep his mouth shut for now. At least, until he could figure this out, and right now, he was in just a little too much pain to do that. Instead, he just nodded at Superman dumbly, and closed his eyes again.

A few minutes later, he felt the slight bump as they landed, and he heard Superman shouting authoritatively that he needed assistance with a gunshot victim. Lex kept his eyes closed as he felt himself being laid onto a hard surface and other hands started moving over his body, checking vital signs, pulling his shirt away to look at the wound. Someone started giving orders about getting him to an OR, and he heard someone thanking Superman for his help.

It wasn't until he felt the motion of the gurney as it was being wheeled away, that Lex opened his eyes for one last peek at his rescuer. Superman…_Clark_…was standing in the entrance to the ER, staring after him with the most intense look that Lex had ever seen. He couldn't help the shiver that ran through him, and knew that it most certainly wasn't fear.

* * *

Lex awoke to the sound of a fiercely whispered argument being waged back and forth over his head. At first, he could only make out a word or two here and there, but as he returned reluctantly to full consciousness, the words became clearer.

"…don't even know what you're doing here. Lex told me he broke it off with you."

_That's David_, Lex mused sleepily to himself. How lucky he was to have a best friend that protected him so ferociously. But wait…who was he arguing with then? Someone Lex had broken things off with? _Oh, hell, please don't let it be Brian! _Lex thought, although he couldn't imagine that asshole showing up to check on him. Oh, damn, he'd missed the other's reply as his thoughts had wandered, and now David was hissing angrily again.

"That's a likely story. I'll believe that about the same time hell freezes over."

"It's true! Superman told me Lex asked for me while he was flying him to the hospital."

"Not buying it," David said stubbornly.

That was Clark Kent, Lex realized. Clark Kent, the _Daily Planet_ reporter, who was actually the superhero known as Superman. That sudden remembrance was still enough to jar Lex's world view, which made him even more reluctant to open his eyes. At the same time, however, there was this burning curiosity to see the disguise, now that he knew it was a disguise.

Cautiously, Lex cracked one eye open, peeking through the fringe of his eyelashes, to see if he could get a look at Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman. Lex thought he'd been quiet enough, but he must have made a sound unknowingly because suddenly a pair of bright green eyes covered with hideous glasses were staring him right in the face.

"Lex? Are you awake?" Clark asked anxiously.

Lex briefly contemplated faking continued unconsciousness, but he had a feeling that Superman would know, and he really had no desire to make the most powerful man in the world angry with him, especially since he was still hurting rather a lot. Didn't they believe in pain medication at Metropolis General?

"Yeah, m'awake. Why are you two arguing when I'm trying to sleep?" he grumbled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Lex, I didn't realize you could hear us," Clark said, a horrified look on his face.

Lex couldn't quite tell if it was genuine or not. He really wanted a chance to observe Clark/Superman when he was feeling his best, so he'd be able to tell what was fake and what was not.

"Hey, Lex. How'd you manage to get yourself shot, you idiot?" David asked with a smile, as he gently patted Lex on the shoulder, completely ignoring Clark.

"Long story," Lex muttered, not exactly able to look at Clark or Superman or Kal or whatever the hell his real name was. He wanted to confront the man with what he knew, but that was not a conversation to be had in front of David, or in the hospital, for that matter.

"Um, Superman said you'd asked for me, but if you want me to go, I'll go," Clark said hesitantly.

"It's fine. We do need to talk later, though," Lex said, then turned his gaze to his best friend. "How are you here, David?"

"You have me listed as your emergency contact, remember? You weren't hit in the head or anything, were you? Are you having trouble with your memory? Cause I could swear you told me that this guy," he paused to jerk a thumb at Clark. "…was history."

"Maybe, maybe not. He's got a few things to explain, that's for certain," Lex said, and gave Clark a determined stare. To his astonishment, Clark looked down at the floor, a guilty flush staining his cheeks. If Clark Kent was an act, it was one that the alien was very accomplished at.

"We can talk about whatever you want, Lex, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. The doctor said he wanted to keep you overnight, just for observation. The bullet didn't hit any major organs, thankfully, but you lost quite a bit of blood."

_Blood! Oh, hell, the vial! _Lex recalled suddenly, a tinge of panic going through him. He remembered trying to let Superman know that the vial had been stolen, but he wasn't sure if he'd gotten his message across. He needed to make certain that Superman knew that the vial was gone, but again, he couldn't really do that with David in the room. No matter how upset he was that Clark had deceived him, he could not in good conscience let some thugs do nefarious things with his hero's blood.

Lex pondered for a moment how he could get David to leave him alone with Clark, without David going completely overprotective on him. Or…he could try to see if he could make a superhero squirm. Sometimes that Luthor streak of perversity just really shone through.

"Clark, do you think it would be possible for me to speak to Superman? I'd really like to thank him for saving my life. And I do have something that I need to talk about with him."

"Sure, I suppose I could try to get in touch with him. I don't know where he is right now. Usually it's him coming to me rather than the other way around," Clark said with a bright smile.

Well, he hadn't really expected that to do much. Clark was probably well used to talking about Superman as though he were a totally different person. Next volley then.

"David, can you hand me the phone?" Lex asked, as he pushed the button on his bed to make the head of it rise so that he could sit up. He grimaced just a little as the motion caused a sharp pain to go through his side.

"Careful, Lex! The doctor said you were really going to have to take it easy for a few days," Clark said, reaching out to support Lex's elbow with a strong hand. His mind wandered briefly to the amazing things that strength would be able to do in the bedroom, before pulling his thoughts up sharply. It was definitely not the time to think on those sorts of things…at least not yet.

"Who do you need to call so urgently right now? I already contacted your boss for you. He was worried about you, said that you should take as long as you need to get better," David said, as he nevertheless placed the hospital room phone carefully on Lex's lap.

"Superman gave me his cell number. I'll just call him now," Lex said, giving Clark a bland smile as he picked the receiver up and began dialing, ignoring David's shocked muttering of 'Superman has a _cell phone_!'

Clark just kept on grinning at him, and Lex's hopes of catching him out that way were dashed when the phone rang in his ear, but there was no corresponding jingle from Clark Kent's pocket. His eyes narrowed at Clark's continued smiling, and he was pleased to note that the tiniest little glimmer of doubt flared in Clark's eyes. Only for an instant, and if he hadn't been looking so closely – and if he wasn't so accustomed to reading other people's body language – then he might have missed it.

"Hmm, no answer. I guess he's off saving someone somewhere. He really is very dedicated, isn't he?" Lex said as he hung up the phone.

Now there was a quick flash of guilt, which almost made Lex feel badly for taunting him…but only for a second. Clark deserved a bit of hassling for lying to Lex so blatantly.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

The rest of the day passed in much the same way, with Lex subtly, and sometimes not-so-subtly, baiting Clark with little tidbits that he might know more than he was letting on. By that evening, there was a definite gleam of suspicion in the reporter's eyes. David had left around lunchtime, ordering Lex to come by the house for dinner as soon as he was released from the hospital, as Lindsay and Alexa were both worried about him, too. Lex had assured him that he would, made David promise to give Alexa hugs and kisses for him, and had seen David off after a careful one-armed hug.

Once David was out of the picture, the 'battle' between Lex and Clark had heated up. There was the unspoken understanding that they would not discuss the issue fully while Lex was still in the hospital, but Lex was pleasantly surprised that Clark was more than able to hold his own with a Luthor.

In fact, he started dropping little hints that there was more to him than met the eye, and even though Lex already knew this was true, it still intrigued him that Clark would so willingly tease him with what had to be the biggest secret in the universe. While they couldn't talk about that aspect of Clark, they did finally clear the air about Clark being from Smallville and knowing Lionel and Lucas.

"Do you understand how difficult it was for me to walk away from him, Clark? He controlled everything about my life…_everything_. From where I went to school, to the cars I drove, to the friends I had, even to what I was going to do as a career," Lex said, his frustration showing.

"I do understand, Lex, I really do! I just honestly had no idea that other people had tried to get close to your father through you. That's not what I was trying to do, I swear it," Clark said earnestly.

"Then why did you ask me out?" Lex challenged him, his chin raising a notch in defiance. He wanted to hear the actual words from Clark's mouth whether his interest was genuine or not. Lex found himself really hoping that it was.

Clark's mouth dropped open a little in astonishment. "I like you, Lex," he said. When Lex scoffed at such a simple answer, Clark continued. "I mean, I like you _a lot_, Lex. The moment I laid eyes on you, there was this intense feeling that just shot through me. And I knew that I wanted you…I mean, I wanted to know you better," Clark stammered, and a blush stole over his face.

Lex smirked a little at knowing that he'd affected Clark so strongly at their first meeting, and that he had him so turned on right now that Clark was inadvertently revealing his physical desire for Lex. He had no problem with that, as he most emphatically returned that desire. They just had to get through all the lies and deceit first…but Lex had a feeling that when they finally came together, it would be breathtaking.

His mind hesitated for a moment at the realization that he was acknowledging something happening between them as inevitable, but only for a moment. Lex had never been one to be scared of going for something that he wanted. And he wanted Clark Kent.

"There was just something about you. When I first saw you, it was like…it was like we'd met before and I was so happy to see you again. Like I'd missed you for so long and now there you were right in front of me. I had to stop myself from grabbing you up into a huge bear hug," Clark said with a little self-deprecating grin.

Lex looked at him speculatively. He'd never sensed anything like that in their first meeting. He'd been attracted to Clark immediately, to be sure, but that sounded fairly intense. Perhaps it was a Kryptonian thing? Lex wondered if he should be concerned about his own psyche that the idea captivated him rather than scaring the wits out of him.

Clark finally left the hospital that evening, as the nurses wouldn't allow him to stay the night, no matter how much he pleaded and gave them adorable smiles. He promised Lex that he would be back in the morning to pick him up and take him home. Lex couldn't recall asking him to do so, but he had to admit that he was looking forward to getting to have a real discussion where they could be assured of privacy.

The hospital bed was uncomfortable and Lex shifted, trying to find a spot where he wouldn't feel like he was sleeping on a rock. He missed his wonderfully comfy bed at his apartment, and wow…now the pain meds the nurses had given him must be kicking in, because he had a very vivid image of a naked Clark sprawled across the mattress of his bed at home.

Lex grinned to himself as he tried to picture what Clark's body would look like without clothes – although the Superman outfit didn't really leave much to the imagination – and knew he had to be well-endowed. A man that big just couldn't be cursed with a small cock. It would be a travesty.

His smile widened as he felt himself becoming hard just thinking about Clark Kent naked, and for a moment, he considered jerking off before he went to sleep. He decided not to though, as he really didn't want to have to explain that mess to the nurse's aides who changed the sheets. Instead, he tried to clear his mind so he could get a good night's sleep. He absolutely wanted to be prepared for that important conversation he and Clark were going to be having tomorrow.

He'd eventually found a spot on the bed that was halfway acceptable, and was just drifting into that lovely space between wakefulness and sleep, when he heard someone speak.

"Well, Alexander, you certainly managed to get yourself into it this time, didn't you?"

Lex's eyes flew open in horror as his entire body froze. He told himself he was dreaming, that he'd already fallen asleep and he was dreaming…having a nightmare, really. For about two seconds, he managed to believe that.

Then his father spoke again.

"Oh, come now, Son. I know you're still awake. Do you think I can't tell when you're faking sleep?"

Lex momentarily gritted his teeth and closed his eyes in disgust, before consciously clearing his expression. He turned over carefully in the bed to face Lionel, hopefully hiding the wince from the dull pain thrumming through his side.

"Dad. You're the last person I expected to see. No minions to order about or enemies to kill this evening?"

Lionel chuckled and Lex couldn't help the shudder of revulsion that rolled through his stomach. His father was up to something…he had to be. Lex hadn't seen him in person now for almost seven years, the last time being at Lex's college graduation, where he'd attempted to get his son to 'cease this foolishness and come back home, where you belong'.

"Surely, Alexander, you wouldn't expect me not to be concerned when my beloved firstborn somehow manages to get himself shot in the gut?"

"Frankly, Dad, I would have expected you to start joyfully planning the funeral," Lex said dryly.

"You wound me deeply. Even though you callously left me behind, I still love you, Son. I always will," Lionel said, placing one hand over his heart.

Lex had to work hard to keep the bile from coming up at the obviously false concern his father was displaying. He wasn't sure if he was even supposed to believe it…it sounded more like the games Lionel used to play with him when Lex was still trapped under his roof.

"I'm really very tired, Dad. I think it's time for you to leave," Lex said stonily.

"Of course, of course. I can only imagine what sort of pain you must be in. What a terrible thing it is, when one can't even feel safe at work, isn't it?" Lionel said.

Something about the tone of the words immediately set off warning bells in Lex's mind, but he wasn't able to think quite clearly enough to narrow down what exactly it was. He tried not to flinch when his father stepped closer to the bed to casually run a finger over his cheek, but he feared that he may have given himself away when Lionel's grin turned predatory.

"Just remember, Alexander. I'll always be watching over you." He chuckled to himself as he swept regally from the room.

Lex knew it wasn't his imagination this time. There was no way Lionel's words could be taken as anything other than a threat.

* * *

Despite the pain medicine that was supposed to help him sleep, Lex's night at the hospital after his father left was anything but restful. His thoughts kept going in directions that he just couldn't conceive of them going. Could his own father really have been the one responsible for him getting shot? Lex knew that the two of them had never really gotten along – certainly never cared for one another the way a father and a son were supposed to – but surely even Lionel Luthor wouldn't be so despicable as to have his own child shot?

With a frustrated groan, Lex decided to push those thoughts from his head. They were doing nothing but making him paranoid and irritable. There was plenty of time for him to think on these things after he'd had that very important talk with Clark.

Clark, who was now thirty minutes late in picking him up, Lex realized with a glance down at his watch. The doctor had already come around, looked him over and released him, and now he was sitting in the hospital lobby waiting. He sighed and drummed his fingers against the arm of the chair impatiently. He'd give Clark another five minutes and then he was calling David. No, wait. Then he'd have to listen to a million I-told-you-so's, so Lex decided he would simply call a cab instead.

He was just about to pull out his cell and start dialing cab companies, when Clark came through the doors, looking just a little flustered. Lex settled back into his chair and said nothing, simply raising a sardonic eyebrow at Clark's fumbling explanation.

"Sorry I'm late, Lex. I know how you feel about punctuality, but there was this thing that I just couldn't get out of. And it was really important, this thing, I was helping out a…uh…a friend. Not that I think you're not important, cause I don't! Think that, I mean. You're very important, Lex!" Clark said, his words coming out faster and faster and more jumbled the further he went.

Lex was thinking that this speech sounded awfully familiar. And then it struck him that he'd already heard it from Clark once before in the phone message he'd left after their date. It also occurred to him that anyone who wanted to date Clark Kent was also going to be dating Superman, whether they knew it or not, and so they'd probably hear this speech quite frequently.

Tilting his head to one side as he listened to Clark's continuing explanations, Lex wondered if he was willing to put up with that. Considering how just looking at Clark right now was causing a stirring in his groin, Lex decided that he could.

"Okay, Clark, you're forgiven," Lex said, interrupting the babble. Clark smiled at him hugely and took a deep breath.

"My car is right out front," he said, still smiling.

Several minutes later, Clark was driving cautiously but competently down a busy Metropolis street. His car was an older model Ford, which didn't surprise Lex, Clark having told him a bit about growing up in Smallville with two very overprotective parents. Clark's father had probably never owned a foreign car in his life.

Thinking of Clark's father brought his thoughts back around to his own father, naturally. He brooded a bit as he pondered again whether Lionel was responsible for the break-in at the lab. Then it occurred to him to wonder how Lionel had known what Lex had at the lab. The timing of the incident could not possibly be a coincidence.

Lex wanted to smack himself in the forehead when he realized it at last. Lionel obviously had some sort of surveillance on him. And it had probably been in place for quite a while, and if he had bugs on his son at work…then he probably had them at his apartment as well.

Well, he had planned to make Clark come clean about his true identity. Apparently, his timetable was going to have to be moved up a bit. He did wait until they were away from downtown and all that traffic. No sense in risking an accident when he shocked the hell out of his companion, and Lex had the feeling that it would definitely be a shock that someone had figured him out. He'd have to keep Clark from being so complacent in the future.

"I'm surprised that you even have a car," he said, interrupting a comfortable silence.

"Why? Because most people in big cities don't own them? I do still need to travel back to Smallville occasionally, y'know," Clark grinned.

"No, I mean I thought you'd just fly to wherever you needed to go," Lex said casually.

He noted how Clark's whole body tensed and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel so suddenly that Lex was sure he heard creaks. He watched with interest as Clark visibly tried to calm himself.

"Why would you think that? I only make a reporter's salary. I can't afford to take airplanes that often," he said, and Lex had to hold back his grin at the strain in his voice.

"Of course not. I meant flying under your own power, obviously," he said.

Clark gasped and jerked his head around to gape at Lex incredulously. "Why would you think that?" he squeaked.

"Because I know that you're Superman. And you're about to run a red light," he said, nodding his head toward the front windshield.

Clark looked back at the road and slammed on the brakes. Even though Lex was wearing a seatbelt, Clark's arm automatically reached over briefly to hold him in his seat as the car shuddered to a stop. They sat at the light, not moving, for at least thirty seconds, before Clark found his voice.

"What makes you think I'm Superman?" he asked in a tiny voice, and Lex noticed that he wasn't really trying to deny it.

"I recognized you when you were flying me to the hospital," Lex said.

"But…I…you…" Clark stammered. "No one's ever seen through the disguise before!" he blurted suddenly, and then blushed crimson as he realized what he'd just said was as good as a confession.

"I'm a keen observer of small details. It is part of my work, after all. The light is green now," he said, and sure enough there came the sound of an impatient honk from the car behind him when Clark didn't move right away.

Clark was staring at Lex with an expression of mingled fear and wonder, and it was still another ten seconds before he could drag his attention back to the road, earning them another irritable honk from the rear. He waved his hand at the driver behind them in a universal 'sorry' sign and the car lurched forward.

"I…I don't know what to say. I'm…sorry?" Clark said hesitantly.

"I don't expect that you should have to tell everyone you meet your secret, Clark, but our…relationship was going to be somewhat more intimate than most of your relationships," Lex said quietly.

"Was?" Clark asked, and Lex could hear the misery in his tone.

"Is, Clark. I wouldn't be here with you now if I wasn't willing to give you another chance."

At that, Clark finally seemed to relax a little, and he heaved a huge sigh. "I was going to tell you, Lex, I really was. It's just very hard for me to let go of that secret. Only a handful of people in the world know who I really am."

"Who else knows?" Lex asked curiously.

"Well, my mom and dad, of course. A couple of friends from Smallville. Oh, and Batman knows."

"You know the Batman?" Lex asked, and he thought he'd gotten over the giddiness of dealing with superheroes, but apparently, he had not.

"Not very well. We worked together on a case a few months ago, and I didn't exactly tell him either. He just figured it out," Clark grumbled.

"I thought you said no one had ever seen through the disguise before, although you have to admit, it isn't much of a _disguise_, is it?" Lex teased.

"He didn't! I told you, he just somehow worked it out, with all his stupid detective crap. He's got more scientific stuff in the Batcave than you have in your lab. And I'll have you know, that it usually works very well, because Superman and Clark Kent aren't usually hanging around the same people."

"You've been in the Batcave!" Lex gasped, and then he shook his head. "No, okay, focus, Lex. Other more important things to talk about." But he did have one more question on the secret identity issue that he couldn't resist asking about. "So how is it that Lois Lane doesn't know? Or does she?" Lex asked, with narrowed eyes.

"Lois is so obsessed with Superman, that she very rarely pays much attention to me, I mean to Clark Kent."

Lex gave Clark another speculative stare. "So do you think of yourself as two different people?"

"No. Well, kinda. It's…I mean, it's hard to explain. I do think of Superman as separate from me. He's the superhero, but he's not real. He's just a…a disguise that I use so that I can be Clark Kent without having everyone know what I can do. Clark Kent is who I _am_," he said, his words fierce in their honesty.

Lex looked out the window to see that they were almost to his apartment building, and he hadn't even told Clark about his father yet. "That's my building up there, on the right. But pull over here for a moment. There's something else we need to discuss."

Clark dutifully pulled over and parked by the sidewalk, turned the car off and looked at Lex curiously.

"I think I know who was responsible for the break-in at the lab," he said, and quickly explained about his father's visit to his hospital room the night before. He also told Clark that he suspected his father had both his lab and his home bugged with listening, and possibly video devices.

"I can get rid of those fairly easily if you want me to," Clark offered.

"Can you do it without the cameras picking you up, if there are cameras?"

"Sure, just tell me where your apartment is."

"See the first window on the fourth floor?" Lex pointed, and Clark nodded. "That one's mine."

"Okay, give me just a minute."

Lex watched in fascination as Clark's gaze narrowed on the building in front of him, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the walls.

"There's one device in the lobby…one right outside your front door…aaaaand…four inside your apartment. All of them have audio and video."

Lex grimaced in disgust. He'd known in his gut that they were there, of course, but it still disturbed him to think his father had no doubt been spying on him for years.

"If these have audio and video, that means the ones at the lab probably do also. You'd better get rid of that pre-paid phone since you said the number out loud, and get yourself another one."

Clark nodded in agreement, then said, "Well, let me get rid of those things and then we can go talk."

As he started to get out of the car, Lex couldn't resist a quick tease. "Sure, you do that and then we'll _talk_," he said with a sly grin.

He watched in delight as Clark stilled for a second and a tiny shudder went through his large frame. He muttered something like 'talk, yeah' under his breath and then swiftly got out of the car. Lex watched as he took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching and then he just vanished.

His jaw dropped. He couldn't help it. It was one thing to read about Superman's unearthly abilities, but to see it in person? Lex was anxious to see what else Clark could do. Maybe he could even get another flight, as he hadn't exactly enjoyed the first one very much.

Less than a minute later and Clark was back in the car, dropping several pieces of crushed technology in Lex's lap. "Done," he said with a big grin. "Your apartment is completely bug-free."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Once they were up in his apartment, Lex still felt nervous talking openly about Clark being Superman. Clark obviously felt no such hesitation as he immediately began telling Lex about how he'd developed all his powers.

Lex was astonished to find out that Clark himself hadn't known he was an alien until he was a freshman in high school. He wondered if they would have met if his father had sent Lex to the crap factory in Smallville as he'd been threatening to do before Lex had walked away. Undoubtedly, they would have; it was a small town, as Clark had said before. What would their relationship have been like? Would they have been friends? Enemies? Maybe even lovers?

No, surely not that last one…Clark would have been too young. And listening to the man talk, Lex thought that he might not have been ready to share as much of himself as he was doing now. Maybe they'd met just exactly when they were supposed to.

"Are you listening, Lex? You look like you've gone off into your own little world," Clark said, and he sounded a bit put out.

"No, I was listening. I was just pondering, though, what might have happened if we'd met sooner."

"Well…" Clark said, a blush stealing over his face, which instantly piqued Lex's curiosity again. It seemed the secrets never ended with Clark Kent.

"What is it?"

"We, um, actually did meet previously. We met on the day that my ship landed in Smallville."

"I don't remember that," Lex said faintly, the familiar tension enveloping his body at recalling what had happened that terrible day, the smoke and the flames and the fear. Only…it had also delivered Clark to this planet. It was going to take some time for him to reconcile the horrors of that day, with the gift it had also brought.

"I talked with my mom about you after our date, and she remembered you. They had just found me, and were trying to get back home, when they came across your dad flagging them down near Reilly Field. When my dad came back to the truck, he was carrying you. You were really out of it, but you opened your eyes, just for a moment and looked at me. Mom says that I reached over and touched your face, and you relaxed and passed out."

"Wow…" Lex said, because really, what else could he say to that story?

"I think that's why I had such a strong reaction to you when we met again. Subconsciously, I must have remembered seeing you that day."

"I don't remember it at all," Lex said, extremely distressed about that fact for some reason.

"I don't really remember either. I got all of that from my mom. But when she was telling me, I got a couple of quick flashes, almost like I could see a picture of it. Not much more than that, though," Clark said, apologetically.

"It's incredible, isn't it?" Lex murmured. "Almost feels like…destiny." He felt foolish after he'd said the word. He glanced over at Clark, worried that he'd think Lex was an idiot.

But Clark was smiling at him, the most beautiful expression on his face. "Yeah. Destiny. I like the sound of that."

Lex thought that he could lose himself in that smile, and was then appalled at his sappiness. Even once he'd stopped being the bad boy of his youth, Lex Luthor could never be described as sappy. It was dangerous, what Clark Kent was capable of reducing him to. And yet, Lex thought he might be on the verge of being the happiest he'd ever been in his life.

It took him a few moments to remember that they were supposed to be discussing what they were going to do about Lionel. Determined to regain control of his wayward emotions, Lex looked away from Clark and cleared his throat.

"Right. So we need to see if we can find any proof that it's Lionel who had the lab and my apartment bugged, and see if we can link him to the guys that actually committed the robbery." As he said this, he recalled with horror that the goons had succeeded in stealing the vial, which meant they had Superman's blood!

"It's going to be difficult. I've already had several run-ins with your father, both as a reporter and as a superhero, and he's extremely skilled at covering his tracks-" Clark was saying when Lex interrupted him.

"They got the vial with your blood! I wasn't able to keep him from getting it, which means my father may have a sample of your DNA. He'll probably have someone working on some way to hurt you with it," Lex said urgently.

To his surprise, Clark didn't seem to feel the same sense of urgency at this potentially lethal situation, and in fact, he was blushing guiltily…yet again. _How many goddamned secrets can one man have_, Lex wondered in irritation.

"What is it now?" he asked in exasperation.

"What do you mean?" Clark said, the slightly guilty look never leaving his face.

"I'm starting to learn your facial expressions and right now your face is saying 'oops, something else I should have already told Lex'," he said, just a bit snappishly. He understood that Superman was going to have to have secrets, but Lex seriously hated being lied to.

"Don't get angry, but…" Clark said hesitantly.

"Any statement that you have to start with a disclaimer is probably pretty much going to make me angry, so I'm not going to make any promises," Lex said through gritted teeth.

"It wasn't really my blood," Clark said quickly, and then actually took a step back. As though Lex could hurt him.

At the moment, trying to see through the red haze that had abruptly formed in front of his eyes, Lex thought he might be able to find a few ways to hurt him.

"Excuse me?" Lex asked, deadly quiet.

"It…wasn't my blood?" Clark whispered.

Lex exploded. "What the hell do you mean 'it wasn't your blood'? Did you think that I wouldn't realize that as soon as I started testing it? What an absolute disrespect of my credentials, my _trust_! If it wasn't yours, then whose the fuck was it?"

"It was from a friend of mine. She-" Clark began, until Lex interrupted him again.

"It wasn't even from a man! Do you think that I wouldn't have been able to tell that it was not only human, but female human? How fucking stupid do you think I am?" he shouted.

"I don't think you're stupid! I was planning to come and see you as Clark Kent the next day, to try and see if you would forgive me! And once I'd worked my way back into your good graces, I was going to tell you everything…about me being Superman, and the blood, and well, all of it," Clark yelled back.

Perversely, Lex was rather glad that he was standing up for himself, even if he was still completely in the wrong. He certainly didn't want a lover that was a pushover, superhero or not. Still, Lex was infuriated with what Clark had done. He didn't think he'd ever been so angry in his life, even with all the crap his father had put him through.

They were standing in the middle of his living room, facing each other in a ridiculous standoff. With an irritated sigh, Lex turned away, raising one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He could definitely feel a migraine coming on.

"I'm just so angry that I can't even look at you. To see your face right now makes me want to punch you, and I know that if I do that, it's probably only going to break my own hand," he growled in frustration.

"I'm sorry," Clark said, a touch of desperation in his tone.

"Those are just words, Clark, they don't mean anything," Lex said dismissively.

He heard a small sound from Clark, a sound that was suspiciously like a whimper. He was about to turn and tell Clark that perhaps he should leave, and they could discuss this later after Lex calmed down, but the next thing he knew, Clark had reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him carefully back around to face him.

And then Clark was kissing him, so fiercely and passionately that Lex was immediately overwhelmed. He gasped in shock, and Clark took the opportunity to drive his tongue into Lex's mouth. Some tiny part of Lex was dismayed that their first kiss was one of anger, but the rest of him was simply basking in the incredible feeling of Clark's mouth on his, Clark's tongue caressing his own. He'd known that it would be spectacular with the two of them, and now he realized he hadn't even guessed the half of it.

Clark pulled away after a long moment, resting his forehead on Lex's, one of his hands curling around the back of Lex's neck. Trying to pretend that the little moan of denial at the loss of Clark's lips hadn't come from him was useless, so Lex didn't even try.

"Listen to me, please," Clark whispered, and when Lex opened his eyes, Clark's gaze was so intense, he was almost as mesmerized by it as he had been by the kiss.

"I have never, in my entire life, felt as connected to anyone as I did to you the moment we met. I know that what I did was wrong, but you have to understand. I was absolutely desperate to work myself back into your life. I have never used Superman like that before, I swear, but I honestly could not bear the thought of you never talking to me again. I had to do something," Clark said, his eyes begging Lex to understand. "I would never force you to do anything against your will, so if you want me to leave you alone, I'll go. But know this," he took a deep breath, and though Lex wouldn't have thought it possible, his stare became even more intense. "I will love you and miss you every day for the rest of my life."

"Love?" Lex whispered, his mind in a whirl at the emotions pouring off Clark.

Clark gave a soft smile and a chuckle. "Oh, yeah, love. I think I fell in love with you when I was three and you were nine, and I've just been waiting all this time to find you again." The smile slowly slid away and he asked, "Are you going to make me go?"

"Well…" Lex said, trying to find his mental footing after the kiss and the revelation that Clark loved him. "I am still kind of mad." He felt a little more in control of the situation upon seeing how Clark's expression went completely frantic for a moment. "So, I think you're going to have to do a lot to make it up to me," he said with a grin that was a tad wicked.

"Anything, Lex. I'll do anything you ask," Clark promised.

"More kissing would be a great start," he said slyly, and his heart skipped a beat at the look of delirious joy on Clark's face.

"I can do better than kissing, Lex," Clark said, his voice going husky, and he turned them to sit Lex gently down onto the couch.

Leaning down, he kissed Lex again, more softly this time, a sweet caress rather than a passionate demand. Clark dropped to his knees in front of the couch, pushing Lex's legs apart so that he could settle in between them and get close enough to continue the kiss. Lex didn't notice that Clark's fingers had been swiftly unfastening the buttons on his shirt, until the shirt fell open and Clark dropped his head to lave one of his nipples with his tongue.

"Oh, shit! Clark!" Lex cried. His hips surged upwards to push against Clark's stomach and he was instantly hard as a rock, and _oh god_, that pressure was delicious.

Lex heard Clark's hum of satisfaction, but couldn't call him to task for it as he was utterly distracted by the pictures Clark was painting on his chest with his lips and tongue. All he could manage to do was groan in ecstasy and grab onto Clark's strong shoulders. He thought Clark might have been using a little super strength to hold him still, because Lex could not help bucking up towards Clark's mouth. He just wanted more and more.

Then he felt Clark's hand cup his aching cock, and even through his pants the upward stroke that he gave had Lex crying out. Clark fumbled with trying to open Lex's pants one-handed, still licking every inch of Lex's chest that he could reach. Lex whined in impatience, needing to feel Clark's hand on his cock without cloth between them.

Finally, he squirmed his hands in between their bodies and batted Clark's hand away, making quick work of the clasp and zipper, and shoving the material down and away. He shuddered and yelled Clark's name again as that huge hand wrapped around him at last. Only a couple of strokes that had Lex's entire body thrumming with pleasure, and it was as though Clark couldn't wait any longer. He slid quickly down Lex's body and replaced his hand with his mouth.

Clark teased for just a few seconds, lightly sliding his tongue around the head, but again, it was as if his impatience just got the better of him and he abruptly sucked Lex deeply into his mouth, swallowing a couple of times to take him completely inside.

Lex screamed and his whole body jerked at the rush of sensation that was almost overpowering. His hands were suddenly in Clark's hair, gripping tightly, and trying to make him move, because _god_, this was incredible, but it still wasn't enough.

"Oh, god, _please_, Clark! Please! Suck me! I need…" he gasped, and then Clark began to give him what he so desperately needed. Clark's tongue was a miracle unto itself, as it was doing the most amazing things, and the heat of Clark's mouth was like nothing Lex had ever felt before. Dear god, if his mouth was this amazing, Lex could not imagine being buried in Clark's ass.

Just the thought of _that_ while Clark was sucking him more efficiently than any vacuum, was enough that Lex knew he was going to come embarrassingly quickly.

"Fuck!" he cried, and then he was chanting the word over and over again, with a few _Clark'_s and _yes_'s thrown in, and he was fucking Clark's mouth, and _shit_, Clark was letting him do it, and was even looking up at him with an extremely pleased gleam in his eye. And he was coming hard, thrusting his cock as deeply into Clark's mouth as he could, and Clark was just taking it and humming happily as Lex filled his mouth and Clark swallowed every drop.

Breathless, Lex collapsed against the back of the couch, letting his eyes fall closed as his hands mindlessly threaded through Clark's hair. He shivered as Clark let him ease out of his mouth and tenderly nuzzled for a moment at the crease of his leg and groin.

"Lex…"

Clark's strangled groan had Lex opening his eyes to see Clark raised up and bracing one hand against the back of the couch, while the other was slowly fisting his own cock. Lex hadn't even noticed that he must have undone his jeans so he could touch himself at some point during that incredible blow job.

"Lex, please touch me. I need you to touch me," he gasped. Lex sat back up and reached down to replace Clark's hand with his, and thrilled to discover that he could barely wrap his fingers around it at the base.

"Oh! Oh, _Lex_!" Clark gasped and he threw his head back as Lex stroked him strongly and surely. It was barely a minute later that Clark practically howled and came all over Lex's chest. He was enormously pleased that he wasn't the only one so turned on that he came quicker than he had when he was a teenager and having sex for the first time.

Clark sagged against Lex and sighed in delight as he snuggled his face into Lex's neck and kissed his throat. Lex wrapped his arms around Clark's back and enjoyed the cuddling for a few seconds, and then it got a bit uncomfortable as the high of orgasm wore off, because Clark was heavy.

"Clark, you weigh a ton," he grumbled. Then he started feeling the uncomfortable stickiness of Clark's come all over his body. "And I'm all messy."

"Give me half a sec," Clark whispered into his ear.

Lex blinked and suddenly Clark was holding a warm washcloth and gently cleaning him off. He smiled brilliantly at Lex as he then tucked him carefully back into his pants and zipped them closed. Glancing down, he saw that Clark had already taken care of himself. This super speed thing had some definite advantages, Lex decided.

"Oh! I completely forgot about your injury. God, I didn't hurt you, did I?" Clark asked, horrified.

"Do I look hurt to you?" Lex asked with a smirk. "I heal fast. I have ever since the meteor shower." He scowled at the guilt that crossed Clark's face. "None of that. You weren't to blame for what happened. You had no control over it, being that you were only three years old."

"It's hard not to feel guilty," Clark said in a small voice. "That day hurt so many people."

"I know it did, and I would be lying if I said it wasn't one of the worst days in my memory…" he broke off at the whimper of distress that came from Clark. "But, it also brought me you. And that can't be anything but good."

He leaned up and kissed Clark softly.

"Now, I am still tired, though, so I think I want to take a nap before we decide what to do about my father."

"Okay," Clark said, and he still looked a little glum. "What time do you want me to wake you?"

"I suppose _we'll_ get up whenever _we_ wake up," Lex said, and almost laughed at the relieved smile on Clark's face. "Come on, the bedroom's through here."

Several minutes later, when they were all arranged snugly in Lex's bed, Clark curled around his back protectively, Lex looked at Clark in all seriousness.

"One thing, Clark. No more lies. I won't put up with any more deceit from you."

"I understand. I promise, no more lies, Lex," Clark said, serious in his response.

They both closed their eyes, and Lex was about to drift off, when he heard Clark whisper, "Except for birthday and Christmas presents, okay? Cause those lies don't count."

Lex laughed softly, and pressed a kiss onto the arm that was wrapped securely around him. "Okay, those don't count."

* * *

After they woke from their nap, Clark reluctantly had to leave, as he told Lex that Perry had threatened to have his head on a pike if he didn't come in to work for at least a few hours that day, especially since he'd taken the whole day yesterday to be with Lex at the hospital. Lex had awakened to the wonderful feeling of Clark's hand down his boxers stroking him off, while he rubbed his own hard-on into Lex's ass. They came that way, both nearly at the same time, and Lex couldn't wait until they had more time so they could really explore each other's bodies.

When Clark had taken a quick shower and finally managed to leave, after promises that he'd be back later in the evening, Lex tried to decide what to do with the rest of his day. Although he still didn't like to think of his father trying to have him killed, Lex decided to pull out his laptop and see if he could still use some of the backdoors he'd had into LuthorCorp's files.

A couple of hours later, he was so frustrated that he slammed the lid of his laptop down a little harder than was necessary. He rubbed his hand over his face with a sigh. If his father really was behind this, he'd covered his tracks very well, starting with closing all of Lex's shortcuts into his files. He hadn't been able to get into anything worthwhile.

Lex set the laptop aside and sat there glumly for a few minutes, until he recalled that he'd told David he'd drop by for dinner when he got out of the hospital. Well, he could do that. He didn't want David and Lindsay to worry and maybe it would be a good thing for him to get his mind off this mess for just a little while.

He left a note for Clark, having given him the spare key before he left, in case he got through with work at the _Daily Planet_ before Lex got back from David's house.

David, of course, gave him hell for giving Clark a second chance, when Lex had never done that for anyone before. It was all good-natured, though, as Lex hoped he'd been able to get across to his best friend that Clark was going to be around for a while, hopefully forever if Lex had any say about it.

He and David sat in the living room talking, over a couple of beers, about everything that had happened in the last couple of days. Lex told him that he suspected his father might have been behind the robbery, but didn't reveal Clark's alter ego. No matter that David was his closest friend, that secret was Clark's to reveal if he wanted to.

David urged him to call the police, but Lex pointed out that the only 'evidence' he had was his father's creepy visit to him in the hospital. Not very much for the authorities to go on.

When it got to be after 7:30, Lex told David he had to get back home, as Clark was probably already there waiting for him. That got him another round of teasing, which Lex resolutely ignored. Before he left, however, David became serious for a second, and told Lex that he wanted him to bring Clark over so he could meet Alexa and Lindsay. Lex grinned and gave David a quick hug, recognizing his friend's efforts to welcome Lex's new significant other into their small circle.

As he walked around his car where he'd parked it in front of David's house, Lex paused as he considered the unfamiliar feeling of lightness that filled his soul. He was _happy_, he realized. Even with his job, and with David as his friend, he'd been missing something. He hadn't even recognized that not having a partner in life had been affecting him so much. And now Clark had filled that empty space in his heart with so much energy and love, that even worrying about Lionel temporarily took a back seat.

Hearing a car engine coming down the street, Lex stepped forward to lean against his car to wait for it to pass before he opened his door. With his mind drifting towards being able to spend a whole night with Clark, Lex didn't notice when the vehicle didn't pass, but stopped right behind him.

He did notice when he was suddenly grabbed around the chest, his arms pinned at his sides as he was yanked backwards. Lex started to yell, but before he got the chance to utter more than a couple syllables, there was a sharp prick at his neck, and he gasped as an intense feeling of cold bloomed from that spot to quickly encompass his entire body.

Vaguely, he could feel himself being shoved hard to the floor of what seemed to be an empty delivery van, and he heard a sliding door slam closed. Consciousness lasted only a few seconds longer than that, long enough for him to hear a voice saying 'we got him' and then everything went black.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Lex groaned in pain as he awoke. It felt as though a million hammers were pounding away at his skull. When he tried to raise himself up, he found that he couldn't. His eyes flew open in sudden fear as he realized he was tied down. Glancing around the empty room quickly, he saw that it was a cellar of some kind, dark and damp. He was on an exam table, the cold metal biting into his skin, which made him realize he was naked except for his boxer shorts.

He was in the center of the room, and over to one side, he could see another table. That one had all sorts of gleaming metal instruments on it, which did nothing to ease his fears. Lex pulled experimentally on the straps holding him down, but they held fast, refusing to budge an inch.

Lex debated whether to call out for someone or not. On the one hand, he wanted to know what the hell was going on. On the other hand, if the contents of the room and his current position were anything to go by, it was not going to be good for him.

He was completely unsurprised when the door opened and Lionel walked into the room. Dismayed and disheartened that his father truly was such a bastard, but unsurprised nonetheless. Lionel chuckled as he walked up beside Lex and reached out to stroke his cheek as he'd done at the hospital. He only smiled wider when Lex turned his head away.

"Lex, Lex, Lex," Lionel said, in mock concern. "Didn't I tell you that I would be watching over you? You took away all my little cameras, so I had to bring you here."

He was not going to play his father's game, he was _not_. Lex stared stonily at the ceiling.

"We ready to begin, Mr. Luthor?" a voice came from the other side of the room.

Lex glanced over that way, startled. He'd been so focused on Lionel, he hadn't noticed someone coming into the room behind him. The other man was standing by the table with all the metal instruments on it, which could not be a good thing.

"Not just yet. First, we're going to talk, aren't we, Lex? I am going to ask you some questions, and you will answer them."

Lex stubbornly stayed silent.

"Now…where is the real sample of Superman's blood?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lionel slapped him across the face, hard enough that Lex's head jerked to the side and his ears started ringing.

"Now, Son, perhaps you didn't understand the question. Where is the real sample?"

"What your men took is the sample that Superman gave me," Lex said truthfully.

Lionel hit him again, harder this time, and Lex tasted blood in his mouth from where he'd probably bitten his tongue.

"I had my people look at that sample and it is nothing more than regular human blood! You switched them somehow. Now tell me where it is!"

"It's not my fault if your people don't know their asses from a hole in the ground, Dad! What they stole is what he gave me."

"Liar!" Lionel roared and hit Lex yet again, this time with his fist. "I only have the best working for me! They are not wrong. Where is the real sample?"

"Your men fucking shot me, Dad! Do you think I'd risk my life for something that wasn't even real!" Lex shouted. "Maybe that whole alien bit is made up and he's just a regular human guy with a few meteor enhancements. You ever think of that?"

"Oh, no, he's the real thing, all right. I always knew there was something special about him, from the first time I saw him. Then when the alien showed up, in his fancy little costume…well, I wondered. But I wasn't sure." Lionel laughed, half to himself, as though recalling some humorous incident of the past. "It was only when I heard him telling you his life story that day that I knew for certain."

Lex suddenly got a horrible feeling in the pit of his belly. He stared at Lionel warily, praying silently that he did not know what Lex was thinking that he knew. His father smirked at the expression on Lex's face, and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Yes, I've always known that Clark Kent was a very special boy," he said, for Lex's ears alone.

A jolt of fear went through Lex that was nothing like the fear he'd felt for himself earlier. He would die before he let Lionel hurt Clark. With that thought in mind, Lex decided to play dumb. After all, he couldn't really know for certain, could he?

"I don't see what Clark has to do with this. He's just the reporter who interviewed me for the paper."

Lionel laughed derisively right in Lex's face. "You are too precious, Alexander. Trying to protect your alien lover. So dedicated. If you'd shown half that loyalty to me, we wouldn't be in this situation now."

"If you'd ever deserved that loyalty, we wouldn't be in this situation," Lex bit back.

All that earned him was another hit to the face. Then Lionel grabbed his chin in a harsh grip, forcing Lex to look him in the eyes. "There are numerous ways to spy on someone, Son, and they don't always require the mechanism to be anywhere near your subject. Did you and Mr. Kent have a nice nap yesterday afternoon? After your, ahem, exercise, that is?"

Lex wanted to vomit at the thought of his father spying on his and Clark's intimate moment. He didn't know what to say, so he said nothing, disgusted by the look of triumph on Lionel's face.

Lionel smirked and straightened up to stare down at Lex contemptuously. "Well, you know what they say. If Mohammed can't go to the mountain, we'll just bring the mountain to Mohammed, won't we? You may begin," he said and then turned away.

Lex glared as the other man in the room stepped up to the table he was lying on, trying to concentrate on his face and not the ominous tools he held in his hand. The man grinned maliciously at Lex and said, "I'm afraid this is going to hurt you more than it'll hurt me, Lex."

Lex had screamed, even though he'd sworn to himself that he wouldn't. He couldn't tell how much time had passed, but it felt like hours. The table that he was lying on was now slick under his skin with his sweat and blood. There were hundreds of tiny wounds on his body, none of them critical, but each of them extremely painful.

And his father had sat back and watched the entire thing, not saying a word. Lex would almost rather he had gloated, than stared with that impassive look the whole time.

Lex could feel himself starting to wheeze, and for a second, feared his childhood asthma was coming back. Lionel had hated having to deal with that disease when he was a child. It made his son weak in his eyes, and Lex could only imagine how disgusted Lionel would be to see it return now.

Lionel wasn't paying any attention to him at the moment, however. His tormentor had taken a brief break at a signal from the elder Luthor, and Lex watched with blurry eyes as his father listened intently to his earpiece. Lex's lip curled in disgust as Lionel became visibly excited about something.

"Get ready. He's coming," Lionel said to his henchman.

For an instant, Lex wondered who his father was referring to, and then he felt ill as the realization hit him.

"You bastard," he said. "You were using me for bait."

"I always knew you'd be good for something eventually, Son," Lionel smirked.

"SUPERMAN! DON'T-" Lex started to scream in warning, knowing Clark would be able to hear him, but he was abruptly cut off as the goon struck him hard across the face with one of the tools he'd been using. Lex was so dazed that he almost missed Clark's entrance.

The door flew off its hinges as Clark, in full Superman regalia, exploded into the room. He was absolutely furious and Lex could see a red tint to his eyes that almost scared _him_. Lionel however, merely looked even more smug.

"Superman, so lovely of you to join us," he said.

"Luthor," Superman growled. "If you've hurt Lex, I'll…" he strode towards the middle of the room as he spoke. To Lex's astonishment, his words broke off and an expression of pain crossed his face.

His gaze jerked searchingly around the room, and he staggered, almost falling to his knees. "Where…are you hiding it?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Oh, everywhere. The entire room is coated with it. The exterior walls are covered with a thin layer of lead, so that you wouldn't feel it too soon, but the whole room is practically a kryptonite cell," Lionel said gleefully, and when he pushed a button on a remote he held in his hand, portions of the walls slid up into the ceiling, revealing a glowing green substance.

Superman gasped and did fall to his knees then, and Lex gaped in horror as pulsing veins of blackish green began quivering over his body.

"What are you doing to him! Stop it!" Lex cried, straining against his bonds.

"So he hasn't told you about that part, hmm? Another deception, Son? And after you warned him, too," Lionel said, shaking his head in false pity. He walked over to where Clark was lying on the ground, shaking with pain, and kicked him harshly in the ribs.

Superman cried out and tried to curl into a fetal position, but Lionel continued to kick him viciously for several more seconds. Finally, he paused, and looked up at Lex, throwing his long hair back dramatically as he did so.

"The green stuff is called kryptonite, as in pieces of his home planet, and what caused all the mutations in Smallville, including your own. Oh, yes, and it's completely deadly to him," Lionel said with an evil smile.

Just then, two more men came in through the shattered door and moved to lift the superhero to his feet. Lionel continued to talk as they dragged his captive over to manacles on the wall.

"You see, he's been a thorn in my side for a long time, even before I knew exactly what he was. I thought I wanted him in one of my labs so I could see what makes him tick, but then I realized I really don't care. I just want him gone, dead, deceased," Lionel said with a flip of his hand.

Superman cried out in pain as the two thugs clapped the manacles onto his wrists, which put him squarely on one of the kryptonite strips. Lex struggled again against the straps that held him trapped, almost unable to bear the sight of the man he loved in such agony.

"I've actually had this plan in the works for quite some time. The conundrum was how to get close enough to him. He's very hard to sneak up on," he chuckled, as though he was making a joke.

Lex wanted to spit on him…hell, he wanted to _kill_ him.

"And then he became fascinated with _you_," Lionel said, turning to gaze at Lex. "I must admit I was surprised when he brought you his blood, and that was when I decided I'd have to have it before I killed him. He's really very naïve, isn't he, just to hand his blood over to a Luthor?"

"Ha!" Lex spat out, causing Lionel to look at him in surprise. "He's not as naïve as you may think. The blood wasn't his. You must have missed that part of our conversation, Dad. He wasn't foolish enough to hand over his own blood when he knew it might be used against him."

"Really," Lionel said, and turned to look at Superman thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing that I have him where I want him now, isn't it?" He strolled over to the table where the instruments of torture were laid out and picked up one that hadn't been used on Lex.

And he could see why now.

It was a knife, with a wickedly long blade that was carved out of pure kryptonite. Lionel walked over to where Clark was chained to the wall, and gestured imperiously for the goons to get out of his way. "Why should I worry about one little vial, when I have the source right here?" he said, and traced the edge of the knife down Clark's cheek.

Superman cried out in pain, and Lex could almost see his skin smoking where the knife came in contact with it.

"You can…do whatever you…want with me…but…please let Lex go," Superman wheezed.

"Ah, so noble! I'm afraid I can't do that, however. Lex has defied me for the last time, and he has to pay the price. After I drain every bit of blood out of your body, of course," he said, smiling viciously.

Lex had always known his father was not a nice man – growing up with him as a parent had more than proven that – but the depths of evil to which he'd apparently fallen was truly horrendous. It frightened Lex that he shared the same DNA with someone who was obviously a complete sadist.

"I can't let you do that, Dad."

The look of shock on Lionel's face was almost comical, but Lex imagined his own expression probably mirrored it fairly closely. They both stared in surprise at Lucas Luthor, standing in the doorway of the room, pointing a gun at his father with a shaking hand.

"Lucas! What the hell are you doing?" Lionel demanded.

"I can't let you kill my brother, not when I haven't even met him. And I can't let you kill Superman, either. He's never done anything to you, Dad. He doesn't deserve that," Lucas said.

"He's interfered with my legacy, my dynasty! As for your brother, he has betrayed me time and time again! No real Luthor will put up with that!" Lionel snarled. "And if you don't put that ridiculous weapon away, you may find yourself there beside him."

Lionel's henchmen had hesitated at taking out the intruder, seeing as it was their boss's son, but when he looked at them and jerked his head impatiently in Lucas's direction, they started to move forward.

"I called the police! They're already on their way," Lucas said.

Lex was impressed at the young man's nerve. The henchmen hesitated again, looking back at Lionel for instruction.

"Get the gun away from him now. We'll deal with the police when they get here. I have enough of them in my pocket."

Then utter chaos erupted. A flash of dark smoke and a deafening bang splintered the room, and with a whirl of black cape, the Batman stood in the middle of three unconscious thugs on the floor.

For a second, everyone stood frozen, and then Superman chuckled weakly.

"Heh. I called _him_."

Batman took one menacing step towards Lionel, his hands clenching as though he couldn't wait to get them around Luthor's neck.

"Get back! I will give him a Joker's smile if you take one more step, Batman!" Lionel shouted, holding the kryptonite blade to Superman's throat.

The Batman snarled in frustration, but held his ground.

"Batman, get Lex and Lucas out of here. Don't worry about me," Superman said weakly.

"Your _nobility_ is really starting to get on my nerves, alien!" Lionel sneered.

"Dad, come on. It's over. There's no way you're going to get away with this now. The police are on their way-" Lex said.

"I will decide when this is over!" Lionel screamed. "I am still in control here!"

Lex swallowed nervously. They could see Lionel literally losing it in front of them, and being that close to the edge, it was almost impossible to guess what he might do.

"My sons…you have disappointed me so greatly," Lionel said, his voice strained. "And for what? A goddamned piece of filth that isn't even _human_!"

Lionel's voice rose with each word out of his mouth, and on the last one, he suddenly pulled the knife away from Superman's throat, and in a brutal act of cruelty, thrust it straight into his heart.

Superman screamed. Lex screamed. Lucas screamed…and instinctively squeezed the trigger on his gun, firing one bullet straight into Lionel's heart. Batman rushed forward, ignoring Lionel's falling body to cut Superman free of his bonds.

Lucas dropped the gun, shaking in terror at what he'd done. Lex was still screaming, and then he started shouting at Lucas to untie him, _now_! Still shaking, Lucas tried to undo the straps holding Lex down. It took him several minutes to do so, and by that time, Batman had lowered Superman gently to the ground.

Clark had lost consciousness almost immediately, and Lex could see that his face was dangerously pale. When Lucas finally got the straps undone, Lex practically flew off the table to where his lover lay on the floor. Batman blocked his hand when he reached for the knife.

"Don't. It's the only thing keeping him from bleeding out." He half turned to look at Lucas. "How far away are the police?"

"I…I called them about ten minutes ago, so maybe a couple minutes more?" he said uncertainly.

"Why is it taking them so long to get here?" Lex asked in frustration, as he gently stroked Clark's arm.

"We're in Smallville, in the dungeons beneath the Castle. The police have quite a drive to get here," Batman explained. "Can you focus, Lex? Because we need to move quickly now."

"Yes, I'm focused. Whatever you need me to do," Lex said, not taking his eyes off Clark for a moment.

"Me, too. Whatever you need," Lucas added.

"I'm going to take him to his parents. It's better for his secret that the police don't know he was here. I need the two of you to stay here and meet them, but one of you needs to go and erase the security feeds back to when Superman arrived. There should be enough evidence against Lionel on what's left to make sure that Lucas won't be arrested for murder."

Lex turned to look at Lucas, the fact that he'd been forced to kill his own father just dawning on him. Lucas was still pale and shaking, but he looked determined. Lex thought it was a hellish way for them to meet, but he was glad to be able to know his brother at last. He tried to smile at him in reassurance, but he wasn't sure how well he pulled that off. At least Lucas attempted a smile in return.

He looked back to the Batman. "I need to be with him," he said, clutching Clark's hand in his own.

"You know where he'll be, so you can see him later," Batman said sternly. "We're wasting time. The two of you need to get upstairs now before the police get here."

He lifted Superman with unexpected gentleness, gathering Superman's cape around his body as a protective cover. As he strode out of the room, Lex could hear him talking to someone, presumably through some sort of communications device in his cowl, to meet him at the Kent farm with the medical kit.

Lex and Lucas stayed where they were, the shock wearing into kind of a numbness at everything that had happened.

"We should get moving," Lucas mumbled.

"Yeah…" Lex said, but didn't move.

Lucas sighed and walked over to him, offering a hand to help him up. Lex looked at it, then up at the brother that had been denied to him for years. He put his hand in Lucas's and let his brother pull him to his feet. Together, they walked out of the room and towards the stairs that led to the main house. Neither of them spared a glance at their father.

* * *

Three hours later, Lex sat beside Clark's bed in his childhood room, watching Clark as he slept. He was determined to be there when Clark opened his eyes. It was amazing to Lex that his wound had healed; indeed, there wasn't even a scar left behind, but as of yet he hadn't regained consciousness. Lex was not going to relax until he saw Clark awake and okay.

Meeting Clark's parents had been an experience. Martha Kent had immediately hugged him, whispering 'you poor boy' several times, before offering him milk and cookies. Jonathan had been slightly more gruff, but had shaken his hand and welcomed him to the Kent family. Apparently, Clark had been talking about Lex quite a bit to his mother and father.

The Batman was already gone by the time Lex got to the Kent farm, but he'd taken care of Clark quite proficiently. Martha had tearfully told him how they'd been in a panic when Batman showed up on their doorstep with their son severely injured, almost near death. They'd laid him under the strong, early-morning Kansas sunshine and then Batman had gotten Jonathan to help hold Clark down while he removed the knife.

Martha had grabbed it from Batman's grasp and quickly gotten it away from Clark as he cried out in agony. Steadily, the bleeding stopped and the wound closed, and Clark had passed out once again. They'd cleaned him up, stripped him out of the Superman uniform, put him in a T-shirt and boxers, and put him to bed.

Martha and Jonathan had assured Lex that Clark would be all right, that it just usually took him a few hours to recover from that much kryptonite exposure, but Lex still refused to leave his bedside. The Kents checked in on him every now and then, but they mostly let him wait in solitude.

Occasionally, he would stroke Clark's hair, smoothing it away from his forehead, still amazed at how soft and silky it was.

He sighed, willing Clark to hurry and open his eyes.

Leaning back in his chair, his thoughts wandered to the brief conversation he'd had with Lucas after the police had finally left the Luthor mansion. Lex only wanted to know one thing at first.

"_Why did you risk yourself like that? Why come down there where you knew you might get hurt?"_

"_Do you know what I've lived with for the last ten years?" Lucas said, with a sardonic smile._

"_If you're talking about Dad, then yes, I'm well aware of what a bastard he was."_

"_No, I'm talking about all the stories about you. Everything I ever did, anything I ever accomplished, all I heard was 'Alexander was a better son'; 'Alexander was smarter'; 'Why can't you be more like Alexander?' It was confusing, because I knew that the two of you never got along. I read the papers like everyone else. Then I realized he didn't care any more about you than he did about me. He was just using your name as a tool to motivate me," Lucas said, and Lex could see he was still annoyed on some level about that._

"_I would think that would make you hate my guts, rather than risk your life to try and save mine," Lex mused._

"_You'd think, but you know what happened? I started to admire you. You stood up to him. You told him to go to hell and you walked away. You made a life for yourself that he had nothing to do with. Do you know how much that pissed him off?" Lucas said with a laugh._

"_I may not have known before, but I certainly do now," Lex said wryly._

"_Yeah," Lucas sighed and he shuddered. _

_Lex supposed that shooting Lionel was going to be with him for a long time. He vowed silently to get Lucas whatever help he needed to deal with everything._

"_Anyway, I'd been thinking for a long time that I wanted to meet you, but I could never find the courage to openly defy him like you did. But then I started hearing rumors about a secret room for Superman, and whispers that you were somehow involved with Superman, and I started worrying about what he was going to do. He really started losing his grip on reality the last couple of years. He was obsessed with getting rid of Superman."_

_Lex didn't say anything to that, just nodded, his thoughts far away with Clark, worrying and wondering how he was, and cursing each delay that kept him from Clark's side._

"_Um, speaking of Superman…" Lucas asked hesitantly._

"_Yes?" Lex asked, one brow raised as he wondered if Lucas was really going to have the guts to ask what he thought he was going to ask._

"_Is there…I mean, do you two…is there something going on, you know, with you and him?" Lucas asked._

_Lex just smiled at him, a tad slyly. "I think that's a conversation for another day."_

He laughed softly to himself now, remembering that conversation. Lucas had taken the brush-off well, and Lex found himself actually looking forward to getting to know his brother.

"What's so funny?" Clark's sleepy voice interrupted his musings.

Lex jumped in surprise and then lunged forward to hug Clark. "You're awake!" he shouted.

"How long have I-" he started to ask, but was cut off when Lex kissed him. Clark froze for an instant, but then eagerly returned the kiss. It grew more passionate by the second and Lex ended up lying on top of Clark in the bed.

He only pulled away because he remembered that they were in Clark's parents' house and he didn't want to disrespect them after they'd been so kind to him. Clark evidently felt no compunction about making out in his parents' home and whined when Lex backed away, briefly trying to follow Lex's lips with his head.

"Later, I promise," Lex said breathlessly, pushing Clark's head gently back to the pillow.

Clark pouted for a few seconds, but then sighed. "Well, not that I'm complaining or anything, cause that was a very nice way to wake up, but what was that for?"

"Because for a while there, I was very afraid that I'd never get to do that again," Lex whispered.

Clark sobered upon seeing just how scared Lex had to have been. "I'm sorry."

"Just don't ever do that to me again, all right?"

"You know I do have a dangerous job, but I promise that I will always be as careful as I can be," Clark said.

"Good. Because, Clark?"

"Yeah?" Clark smiled softly at the serious look on Lex's face.

"I love you."

Clark's smile lit up the whole room and he immediately pulled Lex back into an adoring kiss. It didn't get as intense as the first one, but it was still one of the most wonderful kisses Lex had ever had. He shifted off of Clark to snuggle in beside him on the small bed. Clark was already yawning again, and Lex knew he probably needed more rest.

"Stay with me?" Clark asked, as he was drifting back to sleep.

"Always," Lex whispered and held on tight.

_To be concluded..._


	8. Epilogue

"Lex, I can't do this," Clark's voice came into the closet where Lex was choosing between three pair of shoes to wear.

The frustration evident in Clark's tone made him smile as he gave up on making a decision on the shoes for a moment and walked back into the bedroom, where Clark seemed to be having a battle with his bowtie. And he was losing.

"You are truly hopeless, do you know that? You can rescue kittens from tall trees, but you can't tie a bowtie. Where were you raised?" Lex teased as he expertly made a perfect bow.

"On a farm! I can bale hay all day, you know," Clark smiled.

"Yes, that's why I'm with you. All your hay baling just turns me on," Lex leered as he reached around to playfully grab Clark's rear end.

"I know what turns you on," Clark growled, as he grabbed back and pushed his hips into Lex's.

"No, no, stop, you'll ruin the lines of the tux!" Lex yelled and pulled away, smacking Clark on the hand.

"You started it," Clark accused with a pout.

"And we'll finish it later tonight, but right now we're going to be late for my own awards banquet if we don't get going."

He pacified Clark by giving him a quick kiss and then dashed back into the closet and his shoes before Clark could persuade him to forgo the banquet altogether. In the three weeks since they'd been together, meshing their lives had proven to be a little more difficult than Lex had thought it would be.

Both he and Clark were very stubborn people and there had been a few fierce arguments. But they were also reasonable people, and there had been much compromise, as Lex swore he wasn't giving this up for anything.

The fallout from Lionel's death hadn't been as bad as Lex had feared it would be. Apparently, Lionel had made countless enemies during his reign over Metropolis and there weren't too many who were sorry to see him gone. After viewing the altered security tapes, which included the room that Lex had been tortured in, the police had declined to press charges against Lucas.

Now his brother was trying to take control of the monster that was LuthorCorp. Oddly, Lex's old boarding school friend, Bruce Wayne, had called and offered both brothers his support. He was helping Lucas out tremendously, and Lex finally had a relationship with his brother, which he couldn't be more happy about.

Meanwhile, Lex was trying to get all of the kryptonite in and around Smallville cleaned up. The sheer amount that Lionel himself had possessed was staggering, but Lex was working on getting rid of all of it. He never wanted to see Clark hurt by it again.

"How hard is it to pick some shoes? Just grab a black pair and let's go!" Clark called. "I can't wait to cheer for you when you get the award."

Lex picked a pair of shoes and slid them on, pausing to check his reflection in the mirror one more time before they left.

"You can cheer all you want. I just don't want you to embarrass me at the dinner."

"Hey, I have great table manners," Clark said, as he opened the door for Lex.

"You forget, Clark. I've seen you eat. You think a whole pie is dessert just for you."

"Ooh, do you think they're going to have pie?" Clark said, sounding excited at the prospect.

Lex just shook his head and laughed, and together the two of them walked towards the rest of their lives.

~END~


End file.
